Theoretical Challenges of Accessory Liability in Private Law

It remains a source of debate whether a general principle of accessory liability exists in private law, and if it does, how it should be conceptualized. Accessory liability has been broadly understood as liability imposed on a person because of their participation or involvement in someone else’s primary wrong. Because accessory liability is conditional on another person’s breach of legal duty, accessory liability seemingly sits in tension with corrective justice theories of private law which emphasize the bilateral relationship between a duty-bearer and correlative right-holder. I examine these theoretical issues and evaluate previous theories of accessory liability in private law. Specifically, I analyze the doctrinal and theoretical challenges that accessory liability in private law creates for a corrective justice theory of private law, as well as the limitations of existing justificatory accounts of accessory liability doctrines in the private law context.

Allison Jandura
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-jandura-341729139/
Faculty of Law
University of Toronto

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is a talk with audience Q&A presented by the University of Toronto's Centre for Ethics that is free to attend and open to the public. Free pizza and refreshments will be provided at the event. The talk will also be streamed online with live chat here [to be posted].

About the Centre for Ethics (http://ethics.utoronto.ca):

The Centre for Ethics is an interdisciplinary centre aimed at advancing research and teaching in the field of ethics, broadly defined. The Centre seeks to bring together the theoretical and practical knowledge of diverse scholars, students, public servants and social leaders in order to increase understanding of the ethical dimensions of individual, social, and political life.

In pursuit of its interdisciplinary mission, the Centre fosters lines of inquiry such as (1) foundations of ethics, which encompasses the history of ethics and core concepts in the philosophical study of ethics; (2) ethics in action, which relates theory to practice in key domains of social life, including bioethics, business ethics, and ethics in the public sphere; and (3) ethics in translation, which draws upon the rich multiculturalism of the City of Toronto and addresses the ethics of multicultural societies, ethical discourse across religious and cultural boundaries, and the ethics of international society.

The Ethics of A.I. Lab at the Centre For Ethics recently appeared on a list of 10 organizations leading the way in ethical A.I.: https://ocean.sagepub.com/blog/10-organizations-leading-the-way-in-ethical-ai