Whenever a person commits an act which is unlawful, that person is held liable for violating the law and thus he is punished accordingly. For e.g. A enters into the property of B without his permission, such an act of A amounts to trespass and thus he is liable. This is the general rule of torts but in some situations a person can be made liable even if he has not done any wrong, if it is done by some other person with whom he shares a certain relation, such as master and servant or principal and agent and in these cases his liability is called vicarious liability.
What is Vicarious Liability?
Vicarious liability means the liability of a person for an act committed by another person and such liability arises due to the nature of the relation between the two. For e.g. A, is a driver who works for B and while driving B’s car for taking him to his office, he hits C, a pedestrian due to his negligence in driving. In such a case even though B was not driving the car he will still be liable for the accident which was caused due to the negligence of A.
Relations in which Vicarious Liability arises
These are the major relations in which vicarious liability of a person arises
Master and Servant.
Partners in a Partnership Firm.
Principal and Agent.
Company and its Directors.
Owner and Independent Contractor.
Vicarious Liability of Master for torts by Servant
In a Master-Servant relationship, the master employs the services of the servant and he works on the command of master and thus a special relation exists between the two and in case of a tort committed by the servant, his master is also held liable.
There are many cases in which the servant does an act for his master and thus in law, it is deemed that the master was doing that act himself, therefore if the servant commits an unlawful act the master will also be held liable for the same. This liability of the master is based on the following two maxims
1.Qui facit per alium facit per se: – It means that whenever a person gets something done by another person then the person is viewed to be doing such an act himself.
Illustration: If A is the owner of many trucks and employs drivers to drive them for the purpose of trade and in case one of his drivers gets into an accident because of his rash driving, then even though A did not drive the truck himself, he will be liable for the accident.
2. Respondant Superior: – It means that the superior should be held responsible for the acts done by his subordinate.
These two maxims have played a significant role in the development of the law of vicarious liability of the master.
Difference between Servant and Independent contractor
A servant and an independent contractor both do the work at the behest of another person and thus what shall be done is not decided by them but by some other person and thus on the face of it appears, that both are in the same category and a master should be liable for the torts committed by both of them but there is a difference between the two which separates them and consequently, while, in case of tort by servant, the master is liable but in case of independent contractor the master cannot be held liable.
In case of a servant there is a contract of service which means that along with instructing what task should be done by the servant, the master also has the right to instruct the manner in which that act has to be done and thus the servant does not have autonomy in the performance of his duties.
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