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Simple English definitions for legal terms
prudent person
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A quick definition of prudent person:
A prudent person is someone who acts sensibly and takes proper precautions to protect themselves and others. They use their knowledge and judgment to make good decisions. The law often uses the idea of a reasonable person as a standard to determine if someone acted negligently. This reasonable person is someone who behaves like most people in society and doesn't let their emotions control their actions. In the past, the term reasonable person was also used to mean any human being.
A more thorough explanation:
A prudent person is a legal standard used to determine whether someone acted with negligence. It is also known as a reasonable person. This hypothetical person exercises the degree of attention, knowledge, intelligence, and judgment that society requires of its members for the protection of their own and of others' interests.
The reasonable person acts sensibly, does things without serious delay, and takes proper but not excessive precautions. For example, a reasonable person would not drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, as it endangers their own and others' safety.
In criminal law, the actus reus of murder (and therefore of any criminal homicide) was declared to be unlawfully killing a reasonable person who is in being and under the King's peace, the death following within a year and a day. In this sentence, the word ‘reasonable’ does not mean ‘sane’, but ‘human’. This means that a person who is not sane, such as a lunatic, is still protected under the law.
Overall, a prudent person is someone who acts with common sense and takes reasonable precautions to protect themselves and others.