three wicked sisters

three wicked sisters. Slang. The three doctrines — contributory negligence, the fellow-servant rule, and assumption of the risk — used by 19th-century courts to deny recovery to workers injured on the job. “These three common law defenses, contributory negligence, fellow servant rule, and assumption of the risk, became known as the ‘three wicked sisters,’ because […]

Slang. The three doctrines — contributory negligence, the fellow-servant rule, and assumption of the risk — used by 19th-century courts to deny recovery to workers injured on the job.