State and Public Authority Liability in Tort Law

The IDF carries out dust-screening operations that raise clouds of dust for those passing near the border. The owner of an apple orchard sues the State, arguing that these dust clouds reduce the orchard’s yield; following a circumcision, a baby sustains a severe injury to his genital organ, and the State is also sued, alongside the mohel and the hospital, for its failure to regulate the competence and certification of mohels; a Rabbinical Court issues an order prohibiting a person from leaving the country, yet he nevertheless departs Israel through Ben Gurion Airport, and that person’s wife sues the State, alleging that Israel Police officers were negligent in failing to prevent his departure; on the eve of Lag BaOmer, a person is stabbed by someone in a moment of sudden passion, and the injured party claims that the police were negligent in their delayed deployment of officers on the eve of the holiday.

These real-life cases remind us that the modern state exists and operates for its citizens. It is no longer the state of a single ruler acting for his own benefit, but rather a state of its citizens, tasked with protecting their rights and promoting their welfare. The expansion of the fields in which the state is involved, and in which it exercises its powers, also raises the question of the appropriate scope of liability for the negligent exercise of those powers. This lecture addresses that question.