Wednesday, September 7, 2016

How Did Employers Become Liable for Damages Caused by Their Employees?


Consider these facts: A minor jumped on a train, and was therefore trespassing on private property. The brakeman seized the youth, and threw him from the train while the train was traveling at a high speed. The young man had his arm severed, and lost part of his remaining hand. The case, decided in 1910, extended the doctrine of strict liability to the railroad company with this reasoning:
“The master is responsible for the torts of his servant, done in the course of his employment with a view to the furtherance of his master's business, and not for a purpose personal to himself, whether the same be done negligently or willfully, but within the scope of his agency, or in excess of his authority, or contrary to the express instruction of the master.”

The doctrine was imported to America from England in the late 1800s.

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