Page:Employers' liability.djvu/13

9 recoverable against the master must be the result of negligence. If caused wilfully, the master is not liable. If my coachman wilfully drives against anyone or his carriage, I am not liable for the damage resulting. Lastly, the person injured, to have any remedy, must be one I have called of the outside world. The master is not liable to anyone with whom he has entered into some relation, unless such liability was one of the terms of that relation. Thus, if my servant drives over a stranger, I am liable. If my friend is having a drive with me and is injured by my servant's negligent driving, I am not liable, because it is not one of the terms of our relation. If the passenger had paid me money to carry him, I should be liable under the first head of liability, because I had contracted with him that he* should be driven with care. If my servant leaves a stumbling block in the street in the course of his work and anybody falls over it, I am liable. If he leaves a trap door open in my house and my guest falls through, I am not liable. The reason why I am not liable in the cases in which I am not, is the general one I started with, viz., a man as a rule is not liable for the acts of others. But why is the master liable in the case in which he is, viz., to the outsider? Many reasons have been suggested. It has been said he is liable because he has given the wrong-doer the means of doing the mischief. But that is not so. For if the act is wilful, the master is not liable,