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NONFEASANCE, MISFEASANCE, MALFEASANCE

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 736 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

NONFEASANCE, MISFEASANCE, MALFEASANCE . The ex- pressions " nonfeasance " and " misfeasance," and occasionally malfeasance," are used in See also:English See also:law with reference to the See also:discharge of public obligations existing by See also:common law, See also:custom or See also:statute. The See also:rule of law laid down is that no See also:action lies for nonfeasance, i.e. for failure or refusal to perform the See also:obligation, but that an action does See also:lie for misfeasance or malfeasance, i.e. for negligently and improperly performing the obligation. The See also:doctrine was formerly applied to certain callings carried on publicly (see R. v. Kilderby, 1669, 1 Will. Saund. 311, 312 c). At See also:present the terms misfeasance and nonfeasance are oftenest used with reference to the conduct of municipal authorities with reference to the discharge of their statutory obligations; and it is an established rule that an action lies in favour of persons injured by misfeasance, i.e. by See also:negligence in discharge of the See also:duty; but that in the See also:case of nonfeasance the remedy is not by action but by See also:indictment or See also:mandamus or by the particular See also:procedure prescribed by the statutes. This rule is fully established in the case of failure to repair public highways; but in other cases the courts are astute to find See also:evidence of carelessness in the discharge of public duties and on that basis to See also:award See also:damages to individuals who have suffered thereby. Misfeasance is also used with reference to the conduct of See also:directors and See also:officers of See also:joint-stock companies. The word malfeasance is sometim*s used as See also:equivalent to See also:mala praxis by a medical practitioner. (W.

F.

End of Article: NONFEASANCE, MISFEASANCE, MALFEASANCE

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