John can be given a ticket for driving without a license. He may even go to jail. But the question is whether he must pay Mary for her injuries. (Liability.) Remember, he is stopped at a red light. Even though he has no license, he has done nothing wrong as far as Mary is concerned.

Perhaps you might say that if John had obeyed the law he would not have been driving at all that day and therefore Mary would not have been hurt. You might also say that to enforce the laws requiring drivers licenses we ought to hold John liable for any injuries that occur. This may have been behind the thinking of some early cases like Johnson v. Boston & Maine R. Co. mentioned on page 219 of the casebook. But that is no longer the law in any part of the United States.

Consider these reasons:

· Would it be fair to John? Was his wrong in not having a license so great that he should be punished by having to pay for Mary's injuries? Assume that the the fine for not having a license is limited to $100. Wouldn't imposing liability on John be grossly disproportionate to his wrong?

· The jury would be inflamed if it learned that John didn't have a license.

Because of this concern, juries are not allowed to hear evidence of this nature. It is also irrelevant to the question of fault that John did not have a license.

Now re-read Brown v. Shyne on page 217.

Go back one level.