The Israel Penal Law, 1977, which is deeply rooted in English common law,
contained, until recently, very few definitions of basic criminal concepts.
Negligence was one of the definitions lacking. The law seldom used this term
explicitly when defining specific offenses in the code. The newly enacted
General Part of the Criminal Law, as part of its systematic treatment of
essential criminal notions, is the first piece of Israeli legislation to
cope with this term.
The various aspects of negligence have been developed in Israeli criminal
law since the early 50's, mainly through Supreme Court decisions, first and
foremost with reference to negligent homicide. This mode of development of
law has inherent limitations, since its shaping depends on occurrences of
events and the consequent raising of relevant questions of law in the
courtroom. However, in the Israeli case, this evolutionary process has not
hindered the development of the status and importance of the said mode of
fault.