CERTIFICATE COURSE ON LIABILITIES UNDER TORT

Exceptions to Liabilities
1. Defence to various kinds of individual and collective liabilities
The common defences of Inevitable Accident, Act of God, Plaintiff as the wrongdoer, statutory
authority are available to each and every defendant for a tortuous conduct. However, in the
module we shall specifically discuss the defences under the heads of Strict Liability and
Vicarious Liability.

1.1. STRICT LIABILITY

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 Wrongful Act Plaintiff's
Act of God
of Third Party own Fault

Plaintiff's Statutory
Consent Authority

DEFENCES TO STRICT LIABILITY

1. Act of God (vis major):A direct violent, sudden, and irresistible act of nature as could
not, by any amount of ability, have been foreseen or if foreseen, could not by any amount
of human care and skill have been resisted. Thus those acts which are occasioned by the
elementary forces of nature, unconnected with the agency of man or other cause will
come under the category of act of God, e.g., storm, tempest, lightning, extraordinary fall
of rain, extraordinary high tide, extraordinary severe frost, or a tidal bore which sweeps a
ship in midwater.

The mere fact that Vis Major co-existed with or followed on the negligence is no adequate
defence.

2. Wrongful act of a third party: A Landlord using his premises in an ordinary and
proper manner is bound to exercise all reasonable care, but he is not responsible for
damage not due to his own default, whether that damage caused by inevitable accident or
wrongful acts of third persons.

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 3. Plaintiff’s own Fault: The faults of plaintiff or his negligence could be used as a defence
against strict liability since defendant was not at fault in certain cases and plaintiff still try
to get them penalized under the rule of strict liability.
4. With consent of the plaintiff:There are many instances where both plaintiff and
defendant have agreed on making use of certain equipment or area for benefit of both but
still plaint is filed for damages by plaintiff. Under such circumstances this defence comes
into play.
5. Statutory Authority: “No action will lie for doing that which the legislature has
authorized, if it be done without negligence, although it does occasion damage to anyone;
but an action does lie for doing that which the legislature has authorized, if it be done
negligently.” The statute must authorize the use of the dangerous thing either expressly or
by necessary implication.

1.2. VICARIOUS LIABILITY

.
• Negligence

• Unauthorised Act
.

• Criminal Act
.

• Sovereign Function
.

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 In the cases of Vicarious Liability there are few defenses which could be used by the
defendant who is the master or principal of the defaulter:

1. Negligence: In normal circumstances the negligence of servant during the course of

employment makes the master/principal liable too. However if the negligent act is proved
beyond the course of employment then the master cannot be held liable.
2. Unauthorized Act:If the unauthorized and wrongful act of the servant is not so
connected with the authorized act as to be a mode of doing that authorized act, then the
master is not liable, for in such a case the servant is not acting in the course of
employment, but is going outside it.
3. Criminal Act: The primary exception arises through statutory interpretation where the
verb used to define the action in the actus reus is both the physical action of the
employee and the legal action of the employer. The holder of rights can grant a license to
another or permit another to do something that would otherwise have been unlawful.
Since the minds of master and servant would always differ during and considering the
criminal act, so master at most times would not be liable.
4. Sovereign Function: The doctrine of ‘sovereign immunity’ implies that a State can claim
immunity from law just because it is sovereign (‘the king can do no wrong’). The defence
could be made in accordance to the course of employment rule.
The Law Commission recommended four exceptions to the rule of State Liability (i.e.,
the following defences should be made available to the
 Act of State – It mean an act of the sovereign power directed against another
sovereign power or the subject of another sovereign power not owing temporary
allegiance, in pursuance of sovereign rights.
 Judicial acts– It means act done by judicial officers and persons executing
warrants and orders of judicial officers.
 Political Functions– Acts done in exercise of political functions of state e.g.,
foreign affairs; diplomatic, consular and trade representation; war and peace; acts
in emergency; etc.

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  Defence Forces– Acts done in relation to defence forces like Combatant activities
of the Armed Forces during the time of war; acts done in the exercise of the
powers vested in the Union for purpose of training or maintain the efficiency of
the Defence Forces.

With this we come to an end to our Course. Hope it was an enriching experience for all of
you. We thoroughly enjoyed the journey with you all and hope you all did the same too. We
shall roll out the assignments within a couple of days so that you all get ample time to
complete them.

Thank you.

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