Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
This article contends that the current bases for imposing vicarious liability are incoherent and suggests further that the external approach to vicarious liability is untenable. In its place, this article suggests that the tools necessary to develop a coherent principle for the imposition of vicarious liability are already immanent in the structure of the law. This article proceeds by first considering each of the three bases for imposing vicarious liability before subjecting them to a rigorous critique. Following this, the article subjects the external approach to justification, which has become the dominant approach in the law of vicarious liability, to an overarching rule of law objection. From here, the article develops the public embodiment principle (‘PEP’) which has the tools to overcome the criticism which plagued all the previous justifications. Finally, the article proceeds to apply the PEP to the case law, demonstrating the principle’s immanent quality.

Shahiefisally, Muzainy, Bringing Coherence To The Law: The Internal Basis For Vicarious Liability (January 17, 2024), Singapore Law Review, volume 40, pp 94-140.