ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the role of egalitarianism in duty of care analysis. One way egalitarianism helps tip the scales in favour of liability is by making the benefits from liability – compensation and deterrence – more valuable, given the identity of the rule’s beneficiaries. In the absence of a duty of care, a zone of immunity is created so that tort law will not evaluate the concrete behaviour and will not pass judgment on it as negligent or not. The fact that the mother has an interest in being found liable when she is insured, does not undermine the structure and logic of the tort of negligence, provided that we can identify a behaviour of the mother that deviates from the required standard of care. Children who are injured as a result of causes other than the mother’s negligence would not receive compensation, since the requirement for deviation from the required standard of care was not met.
