Page:Employers' liability.djvu/12

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builder who built the house, the man who actually did the wrong would also be liable. The reason of this rule is obvious. The wrong has been done by him who procured it as much as by the actual doer, and the maxim qui facit per alium facit per se applies.

3rd. There is a third class of cases in which a man is liable for the act of another. If a servant—acting within the scope of his authority—by negligence—injures one of the outside world (an expression I will explain presently), his master is liable. It will be observed that four things are necessary to constitute this liability. First the actual doer of the mischief must be a servant of the person sought to be made liable. It is not enough he is employed, if not as a servant. If I employ my servant to pull down a wall, and by his negligence he injures a passer-by, I am liable. If I employ a firm of builders to do it, I am not liable. The same thing is true if I employ a working bricklayer. I do not know that it is necessary to define or describe a servant. Shortly, the relation of master and servant exists where the master can not only order the work, but how it shall be done. When the person to do the work may do it as he pleases, then such person is not a servant. Next, the servant must be acting within the scope of his employment. If my coachman takes my carriage and horses to give his wife a ride and is guilty of negligence causing damage, I am not liable. Next, the damage to be