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영어

This article explores liability for torts of minor children in the United States. In the United States, there have been three major stages in the development of jurisprudence regarding parental civil liability. The first stage is the traditional common law. At common law, parents were not responsible for the torts of their minor children. In fact, throughout jurisdictions embracing common law jurisprudence, the parent-child relationship, alone, is not a sufficient ground for enforcing civil liability against parents for the tortious acts of their minor children. However, the fact that minors typically do not have sufficient assets to pay for their actions led the change of formation of the parent liability law in the area. The second stage is an exception to the common law tradition, enumerated in the Restatement (Second) of Torts, section 316, which holds parents liable, in certain circumstances, for the torts of their minor children. The Restatement test concentrates on parents' ability to control their children and focuses on the necessity and opportunity to exercise parental control. The third stage is the creation of state statutes that hold parents liable for specific conducts of their minor children. Statutorily defined parental responsibility laws have expanded the common law by making parents liable for torts of their minor children. These statutes enforce a form of strict liability on the parents where the common law does not. And they intends to compensate the victims of the torts of children, and to encourage parents to better discipline their children.