Dependant And Dependent - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition dependant-and-dependent

Definition :

Dependant and dependent. Under s. 4 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925:--

(1) The dependants of a workman entitled to claim compensation under this Act where the injury results in death are such of the members of the workman's family as were wholly or in part dependent upon the earnings of the workman at the time of his death, or would but for the incapacity due to the accident, have been so dependent, and where the workman, being the parent or grand-parent of an illegitimate child, leaves such a child so dependent upon his earn-ings, or, being an illegitimate child, leaves a parent or grandparent so dependent upon his earnings, shall include such an illegitimate child and parent or grandparent respectively.

(2) A person shall not be deemed to be a partial dependant of another person unless he was dependent partially on contributions from that other person for the provision of the ordinary necessaries of life suitable for persons in his class and position.

(3) 'Member of a family' means wife or husband, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister.

A posthumous illegitimate child can be a dependant, Orrell Colliery v. Schofield, (1909) AC 433. The illegitimate child of a daughter of the workman may be a dependant within the Act, Pritchard v. Bettisfield Colliery Ltd., (1925) 2 KB 284. A brother or sister under the age of fifteen may be a child dependent upon the workman's earnings within s. 8 of the Act, Faulkner v. Owners of Ship Sutton, (1927) 1 KB 207 and Sholts Iron Co. Ltd. v. Curran, (1929) AC 409.

Under s. 2, sub-s. (1) 'when a dependant dies before a claim under this Act is made, or if a claim has been made, before an agreement or award has been arrived at or made, the legal personal representative of the dependant shall have no right to the payment of compensation.'

If several members of a family who contribute to the maintenance of the household are killed, the family is partly dependent on the earnings of each, Hodgson v. West Stanley Colliery Co., 1910 AC 229.