A typical example is when a burglar breaks into someone else’s house and steals a laptop.
This behavior is both wrongful and intentional and normally the burglar can be blamed for
what he did. If the burglar must compensate the damage, this will be a case of fault liability.6.2.1.2 Strict Liability
It sometimes happens that a victim suffers damage without anyone deserving blame
for it. Normally, this victim has to bear the damage himself, but sometimes there are
reasons to shift the damage from the victim who suffered it in the first place to
someone else. The latter person will be liable for the damage even though he could
not help it. In such a case, we speak of “strict liability.”
Fairness One reason to shift the damage has to do with fairness.
The introduction of cars into everyday life has created the risk of people being injured or
even killed in a car accident. Although such accidents are sometimes to be blamed on the
victims themselves, it cannot be denied that the use of cars increases the chance of serious
traffic accidents enormously. The imposition of an almost strict liability on car owners, who
profit from the use of cars, means that the resulting damage does not have to be borne
(completely) by the victims of these accidents.Economic Efficiency Another reason to impose strict liability has to do with
economic efficiency. One way to distribute damage over society may lead to less
costs for society as a whole than another way of distributing the damage.
For instance, it is easier and probably cheaper that the owners of tigers insure themselves
against the risk that the tigers will escape and wound people, than it is for ordinary citizens
to insure themselves against the risk that they will be wounded by a runaway tiger.
Imposing a strict liability on owners of dangerous animals such as tigers will then lead to
less costs for society as a whole.Possibility to Recover A third function is to allow victims, who suffered damage
caused by the behavior of someone else or because of an event for which the victims
were not responsible themselves, to recover this damage. This function explains
both strict liabilities and liabilities for the faults of other persons, including the
liability of employers and parents for faults of, respectively, their employees and
their children.
If employers are liable for their employees and parents for their children, this increases the
chance that the victims of damage caused through faults of employees and children will
receive compensation. This chance is even further increased if employers and parents are
obligated to insure themselves for these liabilities.Prevention of Damage A fourth function of tort law is to prevent the occurrence
of damage-causing events. By making persons other than those who actually
suffered the damage liable to compensate for this damage, tort law promotes that
these other people be more careful to avoid damage.
For example, a car producer who must compensate for the damage caused by a defective car
will be stimulated to invest even more in security checks.104 G.E. van Maanen and J. Hage