Vicarious Liability Deconfines Private Law
Commonlawand civillawjurists seek to make clear whatprivatelaw, and thelawof extracontractualliabilityin particular, is confined to performing and doing. Famously Oliver Wendall Holmes, inThe CommonLaw(1881) had stated that “The general principle of ourlawis that loss from accident must lie where it falls, and this principle is not affected by the fact that a human being is the instrument of misfortune.” In this way he confined the very possibility of compensation through the notion that as a general matter it should not arise. Civilians confine the operation of theprivatelawsomewhat differently by viewing obligations as generally contractual – operating by the consent of those bound by them – and only exceptionally extending extra-contractually. But one way or the other,vicariousliabilityallows us to observe theprivatelawdeconfining its conception of fault in order to take account of the risk that moral persons create. In particular, the Supreme Court of Canada’s appeal to “public policy” in order to do so provides a point of entry into the deconfinement ofprivatelaw.
About
Richard Janda is Associate Professor at the Faculty ofLaw, 㽶Ƶ. He teaches extracontractual obligations, business associations, administrative process and environmentallaw. A former clerk to Justices Le Dain and Cory of the Supreme Court of Canada, he was also Director of the Center for the Study of Regulated Industries at 㽶Ƶ. He is currently leading the .