| There are numerous circumstances that exist, where | | | | (ii) A wrongful and unauthorized act or omission which |
| a person can be held liable for his actions. Sometimes | | | | is subsequently ratified by the master. |
| this liability can be intentional, unintentional or through no | | | | A tort is not committed in the course of the |
| fault of his own. We must now consider the | | | | employment if the servant was acting wholly for his |
| circumstances in which a person may be held liable for | | | | own purposes, not for his master's. (The servant is |
| a tort committed by another, that is, where A is held | | | | sometimes then described as being "on a frolic of his |
| liable for the tort of B committed against C, although A | | | | own".) |
| is no party to the tort. This is called vicarious liability. | | | | The basis of his liability of a master is that a person |
| Liability of a Master for the Torts of his Servant: | | | | who employs others to do for him what he would |
| The relationship of master and servant usually exists | | | | otherwise have to do for himself is liable to answer to |
| when one person employs another to do work for him | | | | third parties not merely for the instructions that he |
| on the terms that he, the servant, is to be subject to | | | | gives but also for the manner in which those |
| the control and direction of his employer in respect of | | | | instructions are carried out. A master is therefore |
| the manner in which the work is to done. If the | | | | responsible not only for what he authorizes his servant |
| employer controls the way in which the work is to be | | | | to do, but also for the way in which the servant does |
| done, then the relationship of master and servant | | | | it. If a servant performs his duties negligently his master |
| exists. | | | | will be liable, for the servant is merely doing in an |
| A master is liable for all torts committed by his servant | | | | improper way what he was employed to do properly. |
| in the course of his employment. Whether a particular | | | | Liability of an Employer for the Torts of his |
| tort is committed in the course of the servant's | | | | Independent Contractor: |
| employment is a question of fact. The following | | | | "An independent contractor is one who undertakes to |
| principles may be laid down, however. A tort is | | | | produce a given result, but so that in the actual |
| committed by the servant in the course of his | | | | execution of the work he is not under the order or |
| employment if it consists of: | | | | control of the person for whom he does it and may |
| (i) A wrongful act or omission expressly or impliedly | | | | use his own discretion in things not specified before |
| authorized by the master; or | | | | hand". |
| (ii) A wrongful act or omission which is an unauthorized | | | | An employer who employs an independent contractor |
| manner of doing something authorized by the master; | | | | to do work for him is, in general, not liable for the torts |
| or | | | | of the independent contractor. |