Professor Paula Giliker’s Vicarious Liability Scholarship cited in the UK Supreme Court

Paula Giliker, Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Bristol Law School

12 May 2023

The Law School’s Professor of Comparative Law, Paula Giliker, was cited in the UK Supreme Court’s recent decision of Trustees of Barry Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses v BXB.

In the Supreme Court judgment, Lord Burrows stated that he had been greatly assisted by an article and blog by Professor Paula Giliker:

‘Can the Supreme Court halt the ongoing expansion of vicarious liability? Barclays and Morrison in the UK Supreme Court’ (2021) 37 Professional Negligence 55-72; and ‘‘Tailoring’ the Close Connection Test for Sexual Abuse Victims: Vicarious Liability in the Court of Appeal’,’ University of Bristol Law School Blog (2021).

Lord Burrows also expressed that he derived great help from her recently published book, Vicarious Liability in the Common Law World (2022, ed Paula Giliker): a collection of essays viewing vicarious liability from a comparative common law perspective.

Professor Paula Giliker said: “I’m delighted that my work has been influential in this significant vicarious liability decision, which reached what I regard as the correct decision in this case, overturning a generous Court of Appeal decision that had brought greater uncertainty to the law. 

"It’s also great to note that the University of Bristol Law School Blog has been cited in the UK Supreme Court for the first time!”

Further information

Paula Giliker is Professor of Comparative Law and Co-director of the Centre for Private and Commercial Law at the University of Bristol. Previously she worked at the Universities of Oxford and Queen Mary, University of London, is a former Chair of the British Association of Comparative Law and is now Vice-President of the SLS. Paula has published extensively on comparative private law, tort law, contract law and European private law.

The Centre for Private and Commercial Law (CPCL) is an international centre of excellence for critical scholarship, teaching and public engagement with private and commercial law, bringing together world-class scholars working in the fields of private and commercial law, promoting doctrinal, collaborative, socio-legal and inter-disciplinary approaches.