Abstract:
The High Court of Australia struggled in New South Wales v Lepore to find a convincing basis upon which to hold an institution strictly liable for the sexual abuse of a child with in its care by an employee. This article argues that such a basis can be found in Gummow and Hayne JJ’s observation in Lepore that strict liability for the intentional wrongdoing of another person is generally limited to situations where the intentional wrongdoing is done ‘in the apparent execution of authority’. This feature of authority not only explains the strict liability imposed in cases of institutional child sexual abuse, but does so in a way that addresses the four key concerns that prevented Gummow and Hayne JJ from holding the State of Queensland strictly liable for such sexual abuse in the associated cases of Samin and Rich.
Christine Beuermann, ‘Conferred Authority Strict Liability and Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’. Sydney Law Review, Vol 37:113 (2015).
First posted 2015-04-02 10:55:27
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