6 Is there a legal duty to go to the rescue of persons in need of assistance? Should there be?
Civil law codes have a much stronger legislated relationship to moral obligations than common law. The French Penal Code has specific rules pertaining to the failure to provide aid to anyone in peril, much like the German Penal Code, Strafgesetzbuch (abbreviated to StGB). Civil LAw tradition imposes a civic duty upon all its citizens, unlike the common law tradition, which places greater emphasis on the separation of law and moral obligation.
Duty to Rescue under Civil Law
Civil law codes such as those in France and Germany dictate a legally binding duty to rescue, under which the failure to come to the rescue of a person in need is a criminal offence. …show more content…
The injured boy, represented by his parents, then sought damages for negligence from the parents of his attacker. It was claimed that the parents were negligent for permitting the child to possess and use the shanghai. The court ruled that the parents were not guilty of negligence. There was evidence that the parents had attempted to control their child to the best of their ability; they had warned the boy of the dangers of the shanghai and he had been instructed to only use it against the wall of his home. The boy had disobeyed these instructions, but had not done so with vicious …show more content…
The Civil Law approach to the duty to protect as seen in the French Civil and German Criminal codes strongly enforces moral expectations of assisting others in peril to the best of their ability. The failure to act in Civil law is much like an omission in common law. Whilst the failure to act in civil law is a criminal offence, one can only be held liable for an omission if it has been determined they did not act with care under normal circumstances. The common law approach could learn a lot from the French and German approach to duty to rescue. Laws preventing passerby’s from failing to assist a person in peril would greatly benefit society, creating an environment in which civil responsibility to others is valued by the law, as well as in a moral
Civil law codes have a much stronger legislated relationship to moral obligations than common law. The French Penal Code has specific rules pertaining to the failure to provide aid to anyone in peril, much like the German Penal Code, Strafgesetzbuch (abbreviated to StGB). Civil LAw tradition imposes a civic duty upon all its citizens, unlike the common law tradition, which places greater emphasis on the separation of law and moral obligation.
Duty to Rescue under Civil Law
Civil law codes such as those in France and Germany dictate a legally binding duty to rescue, under which the failure to come to the rescue of a person in need is a criminal offence. …show more content…
The injured boy, represented by his parents, then sought damages for negligence from the parents of his attacker. It was claimed that the parents were negligent for permitting the child to possess and use the shanghai. The court ruled that the parents were not guilty of negligence. There was evidence that the parents had attempted to control their child to the best of their ability; they had warned the boy of the dangers of the shanghai and he had been instructed to only use it against the wall of his home. The boy had disobeyed these instructions, but had not done so with vicious …show more content…
The Civil Law approach to the duty to protect as seen in the French Civil and German Criminal codes strongly enforces moral expectations of assisting others in peril to the best of their ability. The failure to act in Civil law is much like an omission in common law. Whilst the failure to act in civil law is a criminal offence, one can only be held liable for an omission if it has been determined they did not act with care under normal circumstances. The common law approach could learn a lot from the French and German approach to duty to rescue. Laws preventing passerby’s from failing to assist a person in peril would greatly benefit society, creating an environment in which civil responsibility to others is valued by the law, as well as in a moral