DOCTRINE OF IDENTIFICATION

doctrine  of  identification.Hist.  English  law.  The  rule  that  if  a  person  traveling  in  a

conveyance  is  injured  in  an  accident that  occurs  because  of  someone  else’s  negligence,  and  the

driver of the conveyance is contributorily negligent, the passenger cannot claim damages against

the  tortfeasor  since  the  passenger  is  “identified”  with  the  contributorily  negligent  driver.  •  The

leading authority  for this doctrine  was Thorogood  v. Bryan, 8 C.B. 115 (1849), but the Court of

Appeal repudiated the doctrine as unsound in The Bernina [1887], 13 App. Cas. 1 (1888). [Blacks Law 8th]