Jural rights is a doctrine of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

law that prevents the

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

(and presumably the

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

as well) from eliminating

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

causes of action A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a p ...

that existed at the time the current

Kentucky Constitution The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the document that governs the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was first adopted in 1792 and has since been rewritten three times and amended many more. The later versions were adopted in 1799, 1850 ...

was instituted.

Constitutional basis of the doctrine

The doctrine of jural rights is based on a concerted reading of the following sections of the Kentucky Constitution: *14: All courts shall be open, and every person for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay. *54: The General Assembly shall have no power to limit the amount to be recovered for injuries resulting in death, or for injuries to person or property. *241: Whenever the death of a person shall result from an injury inflicted by negligence or wrongful act, then, in every such case, damages may be recovered for such death...

Application of the doctrine

The doctrine was announced in ''Ludwig v. Johnson'', 243 Ky. 533, 49 S.W.2d 347 (1932). In ''Ludwig'', a statute prohibiting a non-paying passenger from suing the operator for

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

was found unconstitutional. The doctrine has been upheld several times since then, but remains the subject of criticism that it is a judicial fiction. The doctrine was reaffirmed in ''Williams v. Wilson'', 972 S.W.2d 260 (Ky. 1998), where the court invalidated a statute requiring a finding of intent for punitive damages to be available. The court reasoned that

punitive damages Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit. ...

were available for gross negligence in 1891 (when the Constitution took effect), and that the malice requirement of the statute in question effectively banned a cause of action based on negligence. Civil procedure Common law Kentucky law {{Kentucky-stub