It is, it is true, not my own deed if things of which I am the owner, and which, as external, stand in manifold connection and operation (as may also be the case with me myself, as a mechanical body or as a living thing), cause harm to others thereby. This falls to my charge, however, more or less, because those things are in general mine, though, according to their own particular nature, they are also only more or less subject to my mastery, attention, and so forth.
Heinecc[ius, Elementa Juris Civilis] § 1235. Pauperies est damnum sine iniuria facientis, datum nonnisi quadrupes pauperiem facere dicitur.
§ 1229 filii familias noxiam inferre dicuntur; noxia damnum quocunque privato servi delicto vel quasi delicto datum.
Here § 117 and 118. The two sides
α) presupposed existence – how I have made it mine
β) what is changed by me, which I have brought forth.
– to take a gun to be unloaded – a movement in a bush, darkness – to [take] a person for game –
Someone runs into the shot – killing, not murder – Oedipus
§ 1235. „Poverty is a penalty without wrongdoing; even a horse, it is said, can make someone poor.“
§ 1229. „The bondsmen, it is said, incur guilt; guilt is the damage caused by any private delict or quasi-delict.“
§ 116: When my things cause harm
Sometimes I do not cause harm myself. Something that belongs to me does.
My dog bites the mail carrier. A tile falls from my roof onto the neighbor’s greenhouse. I did not do that. It is not my deed.
Still, I must answer for it. Why?
Because these things belong to me. They are under my control. I ought to watch over them. But only more or less. A dog is harder to steer than a tile is to fasten. Depending on the nature of the thing, the burden falls on me more or less.
This also applies to my own body, by the way. If I trip and knock someone over, I did not want that. But it falls back on me.
Summary: I must answer for harm my things cause, even when it is not my deed. How much depends on how far they are under my watch.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.