On 13 December 2002, the plenary Assembly of the French Supreme Court ruled upon two cases related to parents? liability on actions of their minor children (Bull. Ass. Plen., No. 3 and No. 4, D. 2003, 231, note P. Jourdain). This was the opportunity for the Court to assert again that ?in order to seek for the rightful liability of father and mother who have parental responsibility for a minor living with them, it is enough that the damage put forward by the victim is directly caused, even when not at fault, by the minor; and that only force majeure or the victim?s fault can exempt the father and mother from this liability?.
Actual circumstances under which these cases have been ruled are very common. In the first case, during a sport training class, a minor fell, loosing his balance, on one of his classmates, kicking him at the head. In the second case, during an improvised rugby game between teenagers, one of them was wounded, while standing up again, by the fall of the player holding the ball, the fall of the latter being caused by the tackle of a third player.
European Review of Private Law