Vicarious liability is the treatment, regardless of fault, of one defender as liable for another defender's wrong. The basic inquiry involves examination of whether (i) the defenders stand in a relationship capable of giving rise to vicarious liability; and (ii) the wrongdoing is relevantly linked to that relationship. Unsatisfactory though the reality and its results may be, the contours of these core components are sculpted as new fact patterns come before the courts, and judges emphasise differently and compromise between various policy goals. The elementary principles are quite well-settled, especially given a relative paucity of case law and literature. But room for refinement remains. We here further analyse issues of interest in Scotland and beyond concerning the basic inquiry, and clarify the unimportance in this context of the distinctiveness of Scots law, before summarising our conclusions.

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