No Litigation

Faults in boilers, leading to explosions, may be divided between faults in manufacture, failure to maintain, and faults in operation. Accordingly, the potential defendants would be, respectively, the boiler manufacturer; the owner of the boiler, or his engineers; the actual boiler operative. The third group would never be worth suing; The first group were not liable in negligence for defects in their products until nearly the middle of the twentieth century. the doctrine of vicarious liability, however, meant the employer would be liable for the torts of his servants (although not of independent contractors, provided he took reasonable care to engage a competent person). Therefore, with the other possible defendants excluded either practically (workmen) or legally (manufacturers), the sole realistic defendant in a boiler explosion case would be the owner – typically an industrialist of some sort, a steamship company, or a railway. These people would be liable for any negligence committed by their employee, the boiler operator.

Potential plaintiffs may be divided into two main categories: employees of the boiler user, and others. The law applicable to these two groups developed in sharply divergent directions in the 19th Century – favourable to the general public, but strictly unfavourable to employees, whom effectively had no right to sue.

There will also have been powerful extra-legal factors militating against employees bringing suit against their employers. There would have been great social, economic and psychological barriers to an action by an employee against an employer. The victim would likely be immediately unemployed, and with a huge legal bill for the action.