Liability of Educational Providers to Victims of Abuse: A Comparison and Critique

This article considers recent developments in cases where an educational provider is argued to be legally responsible for child sexual abuse committed by a former employee. While great sympathy for survivors of such abuse is understandable, the courts have sometimes applied vicarious liability in such cases. It is submitted that application of this doctrine to criminal conduct of a kind that an employer would never have authorised is problematic. An alternative sometimes exists in the principle of negligence, for example around hiring or lack of supervision.