Opinion ID: 2604641
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Effect of death before judgment

Text: At common law, all causes of action for personal torts abated on the death of either the injured party or the tortfeasor, and the cause of action for wrongful death abated on the death of the tortfeasor. The rule was expressed in the maxim, actio personalis moritur cum persona, i.e., a personal action dies with the person. Other causes of action, principally property and contract claims, did not abate with the death of a party. (See, e.g., Hambly v. Trott (1776) 98 Eng.Rep. 1136, 1138 [distinguishing between contract actions and tort actions], 1139 [distinguishing between torts by which property was acquired and those by which it was not]; 3 Blackstone, Commentaries 302 [distinguishing between tort actions and contract actions]; Winfield, Death as Affecting Liability in Tort (1929) 29 Colum. L.Rev. 239, 244-248 [history of maxim].) California followed the common law rule. (See, e.g., Munchiando v. Bach (1928) 203 Cal. 457, 458 [264 P. 762] [action for personal injuries, death of plaintiff]; Harker v. Clark (1881) 57 Cal. 245, 246 [action for false imprisonment, death of defendant]; Clark v. Goodwin (1915) 170 Cal. 527, 529 [150 P. 357] [action for wrongful death, death of defendant].) As this court stated in the latter case (170 Cal. at p. 529), Nothing was more firmly settled at common law than the rule that such a cause of action ... does not survive the death of either the person to or by whom the wrong was done. This rule exists here except in so far as it has been modified or abolished by statute.