Employers' Liability Act 1880
The Employers' Liability Act 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c. 42) was an act passed on 7 September 1880 by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It enabled workers to seek compensation for injuries resulting from the negligence of a fellow employee. Background Prior to the passing of the Employers' Liability Act, it was impossible for a worker to hold his employer responsible for injuries caused by his foreman or another worker's negligence. This was because the standard line of thought on the matter at the time was expressed by the doctrine of Common Employment, which stated that “if the person occasioning and the person suffering the injury are fellow workmen, engaged in a common employment, the employer is not responsible.” This doctrine of Common Employment was first established in the 1837 Priestly v. Fowler decision Another legal principle at the time, supposedly dating back to the origin of English Common Law that “a personal action dies with the person entitled to maintain it,” (Actio personalis moritur cum persona) meant that the family members of a deceased worker could not claim compensation. Several workmen's associations wished to see the doctrine of Common Employment repealed, as they felt Priestley v Fowler