SERVANT MAKING DETOUR WITH MASTER'S HORSES. 187 



152. Acts done for the Master's Benefit — A master is 

 only liable for acts done by his servant for his benefit if the 

 servant is acting within the scope of his employment. In 

 the leading case of Lmipiis v. General Omnibus Co'inpany,{a) 

 Baron Martin thus charged the jury, and his charge was held 

 to be right by all the Judges of Appeal, with one exception : 

 — " If the jury believed that the defendants' driver acted 

 recklessly, wantonly and improperly, but in the course of the 

 service and employment, and doing that Avhich he believed 

 to be for the interest of the defendants, then they were 

 responsible,"(6) In approving of this charge, Mr. Justice 

 Blackburn, in referring to the act being done m the course 

 of the servant's employment, observed : — " It is not univer- 

 sally true that every act done for the interest of the master 

 is done in the course of his employment. A footman might 

 think it for the interest of his master to drive the coach, but 

 no one could say that it is within the scope of the footman's 

 employment, and that his master would be liable for damage 

 resulting from the wilful act of the footman in taking charge 

 of the horses. "(c) 



153. Servant making Detour with Master's Horses.(6Z) 

 — When a servant drives his master's horses on his master's 

 business and makes a detour to call upon a friend, and an 

 accident happen, the master is liable, (e) but not if the servant 

 be on a frolic of his own, and not on his master's business ;(/) 

 yet the master is liable if he takes a circuitous route to suit 

 his own purpose in executing liis master's order, (r/) But if 

 the servant acts contrary to his trust, and without his mas- 

 ter's knowledge takes his horse and vehicle after his day's 



(ft) Limpus V. Gen. Omnibus Co., 1862, 1 H. and C. f>26. 



(b) Ibid., cit. p. 529. 



(c) Ibid., cit. p. 542. 



(d) See hackney coachmen as servants of proprietor, § 156. 

 (c) Joel V. Morrison, 1834, 6 C. and P. 501. 



(/) Parke, B., in Joel, cit. 



(y) Sleath v, Wilson, 1839, 9 C. and P. 607. 



