Page:Employers' liability.djvu/9

 ON THE

a new law is proposed it may seem to some of little consequence what is the old law or the reason for it. The only question, it may be said, is, will the new law be good? I should not think so. Those who propose to make a law, in truth propose to alter what exists, and should give a good reason for the change in all cases. But most certainly should they do so when the new law is proposed on account of some alleged hardship or anomaly in the old law. This is the case in the proposed alteration of the law as to the liability of employers for negligence of a servant causing damage to a fellow servant. It is said that the existing law is anomalous, and that it is an exception to a general rule that makes employers liable for the negligence of their servants, a grievance to workmen, and a grievance without justification. It is somehow supposed that as a matter of natural right, something that exists in the nature of things, employers are liable for injuries occasioned by their