major– minor fault rule
major–minor fault rule. Maritime law. The principle that if the fault of one vessel in a collision is uncontradicted and sufficient to account for the accident, then the other vessel is presumed not to have been at fault and therefore not to have contributed to the accident. • The elimination of the divided-damages rule has made this rule obsolete. — Also termed major-and-minor fault rule. [Cases: Collision 122. C.J.S. Collision §§ 210, 212–220, 241.]
