History
The Reasonable Person Standard in Negligence Law
Quick fact
The reasonable person is a legal fiction—not an actual individual—but an objective, hypothetical composite of the community's judgment of how a prudent person would act. This standard applies even if the defendant personally lacked the capacity to meet it.
Why this is interesting
Have you ever been judged by what 'a reasonable person' would do? In law, that judgment is a serious matter—it can decide who pays for an injury.