THE ZAMBIAN OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

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DIRECTED RESEARCH PROPOSAL

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NAME: MERCY MULENGA PHIRI

STUDENT NO.: 20712260

SUPERVISOR: MR. M. BESA

TOPIC: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMPLOYER’S

LIABILITY IN THE LAW OF TORT.

QUESTION: CAN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN

EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE RELATION-

SHIP PLAY A ROLE IN ALIENATING

LIABILITY TO EITHER ONE OF THEM?

CELL: +260 966 714 035

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1. (a). THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The topic of the research paper is “The Development of the Employer’s Liability: A
case study on Zambia”, which intends to bring out the importance of employer’s
liability in Zambia by making comparisons with other states like the United Kingdom
and the United States of America. This research paper shall further make proposals
as to how the development of employer’s liability can be used as a tool to strengthen
the relationship between the employer and employee in Zambia.

(b). SCOPE OF UTILITY OF THE STUDY

The scope of the paper will mainly consist of the following elements;

The definition of the Law of Tort and Liability; Personal Liability; Breach of the
Statutory Duty; the Vicarious Liability and a look at how the United Kingdom and the
United States have used the development of the Employer’s Liability to harness and
generate the employer and employee relationship and finally a realistic evaluation of
Zambia’s employer’s liability and the proposal suggested.

2. RATIONALE FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC

The main reason for writing on this topic is to help facilitate the dissemination of
knowledge and create awareness on the Employer’s Liability among students
and other people so as to obtain knowledge on how it can be used as a tool for
national development. The development of the Employer’s Liability is a subject
which is important and should be thoroughly examined and understood.

For most people in Zambia, the employer’s liability is an alien concept. Both the
United Kingdom and the United States of America have been able to use their
power and fully exploit it to alienate the employer’s liability. Both students and
people ought to know more about it so that they can be enlightened on how to
protect the employers and employees for the well being of either one of them.
The development of the employer’s liability provides awareness to both the
employer and the employee as they carry out their respective work.

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3. (a) LITERATURE REVIEW
Many students have written their Legal Research proposals and have graduated
before the writer of this Legal Research, but none has written on this topic.
Therefore, there are no acknowledgements to be made of people who have written
on this topic before. Though many legal researches have been written on various
topics, this is the first paper to be written on this topic.

(b). OBJECTIVES OF TOPIC

The main objectives of the study are:

 To create an understanding of what Liability in the Law of Tort is;

 To understand personal liability;
 To learn and know about the Breach of Duty
 To understand and grasp vicarious liability;
 To learn how the United Kingdom and the United States of America have
effected the development of liability, and;
 To make proposals on how the above can be attainable in Zambia.

4. RESEARCH QUESTION
Can the existence of an employer and employee relationship be established and
play a role in alienating liability to either one of them (employer/employee)?

5. METHODOLOGY
(a). TYPE OF RESEARCH
The research paper will mainly consist of desk research, interviews and
observations.

(b). METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

The information in this paper will be gathered from Textbooks, Articles, Court
Decisions, and Information from the Internet, Statutes and Interviews.