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4 Wake Forest Intramural L. Rev. 248 (1968)
The Need for Careful Application of Statutory Negligence Per Se

handle is hein.journals/wflr4 and id is 254 raw text is: THE NEED FOR CAREFUL APPLICATION OF STATUTORY NEGLIGENCE PER SE The purpose of this article is to show the need for careful and thoughtful application of the doctrine of statu- tory negligence per se. This will be accomplished through (1) a brief discussion of the common law standard of care and the operation of the doctrine of statutory negligence per se; (2) reference to two North Carolina rules of law with respect to which the legislature felt compelled to abandon the policy of negligence per se; (3) a listing of the arguments against statutory negligence per se and some of the possible means of avoiding its application when desired; and finally (4) the consideration of two current North Carolina statutes the court's use of which might, in the opinion of the writer, produce an undesirable result if the doctrine of statutory negligence per se is strictly applied. I. The Common Law Standard of Care vis-a-vis Statutory Negligence Per Se The theory of negligence is founded on the need for a uniform standard of behavior. The difficulty in formulating suitable standards of care has always been the fact that /T /he infinite variety of situations which may arise make it impossible to fix definite rules in advance for all conceivable human conduct.11 The courts have generally attempted to solve this problem by creatin the formula of the reasonable man of ordinary prudence. In North Carolina, negligence has been defined 1. W. PROSSER, LAW OF TORTS, § 32, at 153 (3rd ed. 1964) /hereinafter cited as PROSSER/. 2. 2 F. HARPER & F. JAMES, THE LAW OF TORTS, § 16.2 (1956) /hereinafter cited as HARPER & JAMES; PROSSER, supra

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