Vicarious Liability and Its Scope in Master's Liability for the Tort Committed by the Servant

Introduction

Vicarious liability is a legal doctrine that assigns liability for an injury to a person who did not cause the injury but who has a particular legal relationship to the person who did the wrongful act. In other words, vicarious liability imposes liability on one person for a tortious act committed by another. It has become well-established in English law and historically has been called ‘Master and Servant liability', which clearly indicates the circumstances in which the doctrine becomes applicable in tort law.

Legal relationships that can lead to vicarious liability include the relationship between parent and child, husband and wife, owner of a vehicle and driver, and employer and employee.

According to Black's Law Dictionary, ‘vicarious liability' is ‘the imposition of liability on one person for the actionable conduct of another, based solely on the relationship between the two persons; indirect or imputed legal responsibility for the acts of another; for example, the liability of an employer for the acts of an employee, or, a principal for the torts or actions of an agent'.

Normally no person is held responsible for the wrongs done by someone else. However, there are few instances wherein a person can be held liable for the conduct of another person. This liability is known as vicarious liability. This is a form of strict liability, since one ‘innocent' person is made liable for the fault of another person.

Contexts of Vicarious Liability

The following relationships are the best examples of vicarious liability.

• Liability of the Principal for the act of his Agent

• Liability of the Partners

• Liability of the Master for the act of his Servant

Liability of the principal for the act of his agent: When a principal authorizes his agent to perform any act, he becomes liable for the act of such agent provided the agent has conducted it in the course of performance of duties.

Liability of the partners for the tort committed by a partner of a firm: In the normal course of business of that partnership, other partners are responsible to the same extent as that of the partner who is in fault. The liability thus arising will be joint and several.

Liability of the master for the act of his servant: In tort, the wrongful act of the servant is thus deemed to be the act of the master. However, such wrongful act should be within the course of his master's business and any act, which is not in the course of such business, will not make the master liable.

Justifications for Vicarious Liability

Many reasons have been advanced to justify the departure from the fault principle whereby no one is responsible for