DILIGENCE  , in

law, the care which a person is bound to exercise in his relations with others . The possible degrees of diligence are of course numerous, and the same degree is not required in all cases . Thus a mere depositary would not be held bound to the same degree of diligence as a person borrowing an article for his own use and benefit . Jurists, following the divisions of the civil law, have concurred in fixing three approximate271 standards of diligence—viz. ordinary (diligentia), less than ordinary (levissima diligentia) and more than ordinary (exactissima diligentia) . Ordinary or common diligence is defined by Story (On Bailments) as " that degree of diligence which men in general exert in respect of their own concerns." So Sir William Jones:—" This care, which every person of common prudence and capable of governing a family takes of his own concerns, is a proper measure of that which would uniformly be required in performing every contract, if there were not strong reasons for exacting in some of them a greater and permitting in others a less degree of attention" (Essay on Bailments) . The highest degree of diligence would be that which only very prudent persons bestow on their own concerns; the lowest, that which even careless persons bestow on their own concerns . The want of these various degrees of diligence is negligence in corresponding degrees . These approximations indicate roughly the greater or less severity with which the law will judge the performance of different classes of contracts; but English judges have been inclined to repudiate the distinction as a useless refinement of the jurists . Thus Baron Rolfe could see no difference between negligence and gross negligence; it was the same thing with the addition of a vituperative epithet . See NEGLIGENCE . Diligence, in Scots law, is a general term for the process by which persons, lands or effects are attached on execution, or in security for debt .