hold harmless

English

Etymology

From to hold someone harmless.

Adjective

hold harmless (not comparable)

1. (law) Describing an agreement or contract where one party assumes all liability resulting from it, thus making the agreement "harmless" for the other party.

   Synonym: save harmless

   a hold harmless clause

   • 2001, It's All Your Fault!, Silver Lake Pub., →ISBN, page 253:

     The first is a hold harmless agreement—a legal contract that limits or transfers liabilities between two parties. Like insurance, you usually have to make a hold harmless agreement before a liability occurs.

   • 2003, Walter M. Dunn, Steven P. Latoski, National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Safe and Quick Clearance of Traffic Incidents, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, →ISBN, page 3-:

     An authority tow law described under Virginia Statute Section 46.2-1212.1, entitled "Authority to provide for removal and disposition of vehicles and cargos of vehicles involved in accidents," contains a hold harmless provision under Part B of the law.

   • 2011, Bryan A. Garner, Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 445:

     The indemnify language is the "indemnity clause" (covering liabilities to third parties) and the hold harmless is the "exculpatory clause" (releasing first-party liability—this is, so that the hold harmless phrase releases a wrongdoing indemnitee where indemnify would not have this effect).

See also

• indemnify

References

• “hold harmless”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.