Accident insurance had its beginnings in the liability of employers for accidents that happened as a result of the employer's negligence, a principle found to some degree in all countries. Thus the earlier payments to workers in cases of accidents were not insurance indemnity but merely damages collected in court for the fault of the employer. In Great Britain and the United States, indeed, by judicial interpretation the law grew more strict as against the claims of the workers, until about 1880 in Great Britain and 1910 in the United States. To collect damages it was not enough for the workman to prove the employer's negligence, for collection was made more difficult by (1) the doctrine of contributory negligence, (2) the doctrine of the assumption of risk, and (3) the fellow-servant doctrine.
By the doctrine of contributory negligence, the workman's claim could be defeated by showing that he had by his carelessness contributed to the accident even when the employer had been negligent. By the doctrine of assumption of risk the workman was presumed, in entering upon employment, to have taken upon himself the risks usually incident to the employment, including the chance of imperfections in the machinery, of which he might by some care have known. By the fellow-servant doctrine the employer was freed from responsibility for accidents due to the negligence of other employees, "fellow servants," even when it was impossible for him to know their character and reputation as in the case of a large factory or of a great railroad.
§ 6. #Development of compensation for accidents#. In some countries of continental Europe, notably Germany and France, the law of employers' liability was altered in favor of the worker early in the nineteenth century, so as to make compensation more usual and adequate. Since 1885, especially, this liability has been much further extended in many countries and in various directions, and yet the laws of accident compensation still retain many features of the old liability laws and remain in their legal character somewhat apart from the other branches of social insurance. Even in the newer type of "compensation" laws the indemnity paid by employers on account of accident is looked upon as commuted damages, but the old employers' defenses, just named, are abolished or made more difficult to plead. The new plan has the advantages of granting compensation by a schedule fixed in the law, insuring greater certainty, more adequate payments, greater ease of securing redress, and abolishing the cost of law suits. Still, in most countries and in most states in America, the worker has the option of suing under the old law. In some forty countries the principle of compensation by a prearranged schedule of rates has to some degree replaced that of litigation, and determination by a jury of the damages, in each separate case. The insurance spoken of in relation to accidents is technically that which the employers may or must take to protect themselves against loss, not that which the workman has.
The situation as to compensation in a few leading countries is as follows, the dates given being those of important legislation.
ACCIDENT INSURANCE
Voluntary (as to employers insuring, but compulsory compensation).
Great Britain, 1897, 1906, 1907.
France, 1898, 1907, (compulsory for seamen, 1898, 1905).
Denmark, 1898, 1908.
Belgium, 1903, (voluntary except for miners).