Personal injury law falls within the realm of tort law and addresses instances when someone may be held legally liable for harming another individual, as well as establishing damages caused by that action.
Before the 1700s, personal injury claims were rare. What changed this?
History of personal injury law
New Yorkers are hurt every year due to careless or reckless actions of another, often suffering serious financial damages and physical or emotional trauma as a result. Personal injury law (or tort law, as it’s sometimes known) provides victims with recourse and can help recover losses caused by negligent or reckless acts by others; Williamson Clune & Stevens attorneys have been fighting on their behalf since 1978 to secure justice for these injured parties.
Historians do not agree on an exact start date for personal injury law; most historians believe it has evolved gradually over time. Current forms of this area of law hardly date back further than the 1970s when lawyers started advertising themselves and compensation payments began being determined solely based on physical injury severity rather than non-economic factors such as emotional suffering.
Some historians cite Hammurabi’s Code from 1780 BC as one of the earliest foundations for personal injury law. This law established lex talionis, or “an eye for an eye”, which states that any individual or group who harm another must pay back with punishments of equal severity.
Centuries passed, as civilizations flourished, so did their need for legal systems to govern society. By the 1600s, one legal principle emerged as the basis for most personal injury claims: res ipsa loquitur (meaning, “if something out-of-the ordinary happens, someone must have caused it). This remains an essential tenet of tort law today and continues to guide courts today.
Donoghue vs. Stevenson
Personal injury law may have emerged more recently as a distinct practice since the 1970s, yet personal injuries have existed since ancient times when law more closely resembled moral code. One of the earliest recorded personal injury lawsuits dates back to Babylonian times when Hammurabi issued what became known as his Law of Retaliation which required that any harm should be compensated in terms of money or goods equivalent.
Donoghue vs Stevenson was an early landmark case that laid the groundwork for modern personal injury law, being decided in Scotland in 1932. Mrs. Donoghue purchased ginger beer from David Stevenson and after drinking half, saw remains of decomposing snail float to the surface, prompting shock and gastroenteritis – prompting her to bring legal action against Stevenson before the Court of Session.
Before Donoghue’s case, in order to file a suit it was necessary to prove an injury was caused by direct physical contact between two parties in order to qualify. With its decision, liability now rests less on direct physical harm and more on an overarching sense of duty owed.
This shift, often referred to as the ‘neighbour principle,’ served as the cornerstone for negligence laws across common law jurisdictions around the globe. Furthermore, Donoghue’s decision established that all people owed one another an obligation of care even those not legally related.
Personal injury law first gained popularity during the late 1700s due to increased worker productivity due to the Industrial Revolution; more people could now find jobs that didn’t rely exclusively on farming or hand-to-mouth labor for survival, which led to more injuries on the job and thus led to the development of personal injury law as an independent field of practice.
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution marked an immense societal transition. People transitioned from farming to manufacturing and lived, worked, and traveled differently as they experienced its many advances such as steam engines, railroads and airplanes as well as gas, electricity, steel and other materials that revolutionized how we live today.
As we entered the modern era, personal injury law also began to flourish. One early step was established by Babylonian ruler Hammurabi in 1780 BC: lex talionis or “an eye for an eye.” Under this legal principle, if someone caused you injury and you seek revenge against their perpetrator through acts that could exceed any original harm; even death could result from such measures taken against them.
By the late 1800s, personal injury law and practice had begun to overlap more effectively than ever, yet compensation for physical injuries was based only on their severity and did not consider non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. At this same time, however, a growing movement among the general public to improve workplace conditions and government corruption began, spurred by crusading writers like Jacob Riis (a newspaperman), Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell from magazine writing for publication and Upton Sinclair as novelist.
Growing public sentiment propelled the creation of worker’s compensation laws, providing financial support for injured workers when they were hurt on the job and mandating that employers provide safe work environments.
As part of this era’s significant developments was the legal principle known as res ipsa loquitur or “the thing speaks for itself”, or if an accident can be proven as being due to negligent act then those responsible must compensate those injured by them. Furthermore, this period saw the birth of modern personal injury attorneys, with some beginning advertising their services on nontraditional media such as newspapers and TV starting as early as 1979.
Since the early 1900s, attorneys began to specialize in personal injury law as it rapidly gained momentum within legal profession. Today there are numerous law schools which graduate students who understand its intricate details; those practicing personal injury law understand its goal is to return their clients as close as possible to what life was like prior to being injured.
Advertising
Before 1976, lawyers were not permitted to advertise their services. Jacoby & Meyers brought about change when they decided to advertise themselves outside of traditional print media by running television advertisements instead. Since then, personal injury law firms have used advertising strategies such as digital marketing retargeting campaigns, website content updates and social media promotions in order to expand their clientele base and remain relevant in today’s online environment. By taking these steps and staying ahead of their competition with marketing techniques they can keep drawing clients in.