| Tort Liability for the acts of others, such as vicarious liability and guardian’s liability, is an important category of tort liability in modern law. There are different doctrines on the foundation of this category of liability, such as fault, breach of social security duty, abnormally dangerous activities, principle of fairness, loss spreading, deeper pockets, respondeat superior, etc. Based on the analysis of the above-mentioned theories, the author puts up a new doctrine, which can be called Theory of Domination or Significant Impact, that is, the foundation of tort liability for the acts of others is the relationship of controlling and being controlled. It means that if one can control the act of the perpetrator or has significant impact on perpetrator’s act according to a contract or other relationships, he should take the compensation responsibility for the perpetrator’s tort act under his control even he has no concrete fault. This conclusion is based on the fact that the tort law of almost all the countries requires the existence of certain relationships between the compensator and the perpetrator. In the relationships such as employer-employee and parents-children, one can dominate or direct the other's act legally. Where there is no power of control, there is no tort liability for the acts of others. This conclusion is also based on profound economic and social reasons. Firstly, while the principle of equality is the fundamental principle of civil law, there are still some subordinate relations in civil law. Since employees and children should obey the employers' and parents' orders, the consequences should also be taken by the superior. Secondly, the doctrine of Own Responsibility and Fault Liability is based on independent personality and free will. But in modern society, with the rapid expansion of enterprise scale, the strengthen of government intervention and the occurrence of kinds of means of mind control, in more and more occasions one cannot act according to his own will but acts under the orders or directions of others . Since the basis of Own Responsibility has been undermined, it is necessary that one assume the liability for the acts of others under his control or significant influence. Thirdly, the prosperity of liability insurance can disperse the risk of liability for acts of others, which encourage judges to deliver a verdict of liability for acts of others. |
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