以上詞組均為侵權法中的術語。concurrent negligence為“并存過失”，指兩個或兩個以上侵權行為人（被告）獨立（不一定同時）對一個受害人（原告）加害，造成同一傷害或損失而負有過失責任[1]。joint negligence為“共同過失”，其與concurrent negligence很相似，差別在于其是指兩個或兩個以上的侵權行為人同時而非獨立加害而導致一個傷害之過失責任[2]。comparative negligence為“比較過失”或“相對過失”，主要用在賠償金的確認上，即按行為人（被告）的過失大小決定其承擔的賠償金的比例，而受害人（原告）也會因其自身的過失而減少索賠所得[3]。contributory negligence多為“混合過失”或“與有過失”（現(xiàn)有不少英漢詞典將其當作“共同過失”，此純屬ー種錯誤[4]），指傷害或損失是因加害人和受害人，即原告和被告共同責任所致[5]。目前美國很多州的有關contributory negligence的法則已經(jīng)被comparative negligence的法則所替代。
[1] "The negligence of two or more parties acting independently but causing the same
damage." Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th edition, at p. 1056, West Group (1999).
[2] "The negligence of two or more persons acting together to cause an accident." Id. at p. 1057.
[3] "The modem doctrine that as between a plaintiff and a defendant in a tort case, and sometimes as among several defendants, fault ( and liability for damages) should be allocated in proportion to each party's contribution to the injury or loss complained." Cf. James E. Clapp, Random House Webster's Dictionary of the Law, at p. 297, Random House, New York (2000).