Vines, Prue --- "NSW v Lepore; Samin v Queensland; Rich v Queensland - Schools' Responsibility for Teachers' Sexual Assault: Non-Delegable Duty and Vicarious Liability" [2003] MelbULawRw 22; (2003) 27(2) Melbourne University Law Review 612

[*] [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412 (‘Lepore’).

[†] BA, MA (Syd), Dip Ed (Sydney Teachers College), LLB (UNSW); Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales.

[1] [1982] HCA 40; (1982) 150 CLR 258 (‘Introvigne’).

[2] Lepore v New South Wales [2001] NSWCA 112; (2001) 52 NSWLR 420, 432.

[3] [2001] NSWCA 112; (2001) 52 NSWLR 420.

[4] Rich v Queensland [2001] QCA 295; (2001) Aust Torts Reports 81-626.

[5] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 455.

[6] Ibid 498.

[7] Ibid 422.

[8] Ibid 423.

[9] Ibid 439.

[10] Ibid 479.

[11] Ibid 439.

[12] (2000) 204 CLR 333, 417.

[13] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 439.

[14] Ibid 445.

[15] Ibid 478.

[16] Ibid 479.

[17] Ibid.

[18] [1957] HCA 83; (1957) 97 CLR 465.

[19] (2001) 207 CLR 562. There the Court decided that to hold that a welfare organisation owed a duty of care to a father who had been accused of sexually assaulting his child would be incompatible with both the duty of the organisation to the child and with the law of defamation.

[20] Ibid 580 (Gleeson CJ, Gaudron, McHugh, Hayne and Callinan JJ).

[21] [1963] UKHL 4; [1964] AC 465.

[22] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 485.

[23] Ibid 498.

[24] Ibid 475–6.

[25] Ibid 447.

[26] Ibid 449.

[27] Ibid 454.

[28] Ibid 456.

[29] [1942] KB 293, 301–2.

[30] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 420.

[31] Ibid 478–9.

[32] Ibid 422.

[33] [1984] HCA 61; (1984) 154 CLR 672.

[34] [1994] HCA 13; (1994) 179 CLR 520.

[35] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 475 (citations omitted).

[36] Ibid 497, referring to Lepore v New South Wales [2001] NSWCA 112; (2001) 52 NSWLR 420, 445.

[37] Kondis v State Transport Authority [1984] HCA 61; (1984) 154 CLR 672; Burnie Port Authority v General Jones Pty Ltd [1994] HCA 13; (1994) 179 CLR 520; Northern Sandblasting Pty Ltd v Harris [1997] HCA 39; (1997) 188 CLR 313; Scott v Davis (2000) 204 CLR 333.

[38] Lepore v New South Wales [2001] NSWCA 112; (2001) 52 NSWLR 420, 441 (Heydon JA).

[39] See, eg, Harold Luntz and David Hambly, Torts: Cases and Commentary (5th ed, 2002) 906.

[40] Bugge v Brown [1919] HCA 5; (1919) 26 CLR 110; Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd v Producers and Citizens Cooperative Insurance Co of Australia Ltd [1931] HCA 53; (1931) 46 CLR 41; Limpus v London General Omnibus Co [1862] EngR 839; (1862) 1 Hurl & C 526; 158 ER 993; Rose v Plenty [1975] EWCA Civ 5; [1976] 1 All ER 97 (Court of Appeal).

[41] The courts have contrasted ‘mere detours’ with ‘frolics’: see, eg, Chaplin v Dunstan Ltd [1938] SAStRp 34; [1938] SASR 245; Harvey v R G O’Dell Ltd [1958] 2 QB 78; contra Storey v Ashton (1869) LR 4 QB 476. See also Heasmans v Clarity Cleaning Co Ltd [1987] ICR 949.

[42] John Salmond, Salmond on Torts (1st ed, 1907) 83, referred to in Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 426 (Gleeson CJ).

[43] [1912] AC 716 (‘Lloyd’).

[44] [1966] 1 QB 716 (‘Morris’).

[45] 1999 Can LII 692 (SCC); [1999] 2 SCR 534 (‘Bazley’).

[46] [1999] 2 SCR 570 (‘Jacobi’).

[47] Bazley 1999 Can LII 692 (SCC); [1999] 2 SCR 534, 546–7.

[48] Ibid 559.

[49] [2002] 1 AC 215 (‘Lister’).

[50] [1949] HCA 60; (1949) 79 CLR 370 (‘Deatons’), referred to in Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 428 (Gleeson CJ).

[51] [1912] AC 716.

[52] [1966] 1 QB 716.

[53] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 426–8.

[54] Ibid 429.

[55] [1912] AC 716.

[56] [1980] UKHL 2; [1980] AC 827.

[57] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 442–3.

[58] Ibid 446.

[59] Ibid 446–7.

[60] Ibid 446.

[61] Frederick Pollock, Essays in Jurisprudence and Ethics (1882) 130, cited in Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 463.

[62] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 465.

[63] Ibid 469.

[64] Ibid.

[65] [1949] HCA 60; (1949) 79 CLR 370.

[66] Lepore [2003] HCA 4; (2003) 195 ALR 412, 474.

[67] Ibid 488–9.

[68] Ibid 491.

[69] Ibid 492–3.

[70] [1937] UKHL 2; [1938] AC 57.

[71] (1881) 6 App Cas 740.

[72] [1982] HCA 40; (1982) 150 CLR 258.

[73] See, eg, Kondis v State Transport Authority [1984] HCA 61; (1984) 154 CLR 672.

[74] See Jaensch v Coffey [1984] HCA 52; (1983) 155 CLR 549, 583 (Deane J), where proximity was first proposed as a limit on the duty of care in Australia. See also Sutherland Shire Council v Heyman [1985] HCA 41; (1985) 157 CLR 424; Australian Safeway Stores v Zaluzna (1987) 162 CLR 479; Burnie Port Authority v General Jones [1994] HCA 13; (1994) 179 CLR 520; Bryan v Maloney (1995) 182 CLR 609.

[75] See Prue Vines, ‘The Needle in the Haystack: Principle in the Duty of Care in Negligence’ [2000] UNSWLawJl 25; (2000) 23 University of New South Wales Law Journal 35.

[76] [1994] HCA 13; (1994) 179 CLR 520, 544–57 (Mason CJ, Deane, Dawson, Toohey, Gaudron JJ).

[77] (1868) LR 3 HL 330.

[78] [1999] HCA 59; (1999) 200 CLR 1.

[79] [1998] HCA 3; (1998) 192 CLR 330.

[80] [1999] HCA 36; (1999) 198 CLR 180.

[81] See, eg, Chief Justice J J Spigelman, ‘Negligence: The Last Outpost of the Welfare State’ (2002) 76 Australian Law Journal 432.

[82] (1998) 192 CLR 431.

[83] Agar v Hyde (2000) 201 CLR 552; Jones v Bartlett (2000) 205 CLR 166; Modbury Triangle Shopping Centre Pty Ltd v Anzil [2000] HCA 61; (2001) 205 CLR 254; Sullivan v Moody (2001) 207 CLR 562.

[84] See Harold Luntz, ‘Torts Turnaround Downunder’ (2001) Oxford Commonwealth Law Journal 95.

[85] [2001] HCA 29; (2001) 206 CLR 512, which abolished the highway non-feasance immunity rule.

[86] [1997] HCA 39; (1997) 188 CLR 313, which confirmed the abolition of landlord’s immunity.

[87] [2002] HCA 35; (2002) 191 ALR 449. In this case the High Court rejected the specific rules for nervous shock liability such as the requirement of sudden sensory perception with the unaided senses.

[88] Peter Cane, Responsibility in Law and Morality (2002) 154–5.

[89] See the judgments of Gummow, Hayne and Callinan JJ in Sullivan v Moody (2001) 207 CLR 562. See also Jones v Bartlett (2000) 205 CLR 166; Agar v Hyde (2000) 201 CLR 552; Modbury Triangle Shopping Centre v Anzil [2000] HCA 61; (2001) 205 CLR 254; Prue Vines, ‘Fault, Responsibility and Negligence in the High Court of Australia’ (2000) 8 Tort Law Review 130.