Catholic Child Welfare Society v Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools UKSC 56 is an English tort law case, concerned with vicarious liability.
Facts A group action of 170 claimants had successfully claimed that between 1958 and 1992 they were sexually abused by Brother James Carragher, and various others, at St William's School in Market Weighton, in east Yorkshire. The Catholic Child Welfare Society (CCWS, a charitable company associated with the Diocese of Middlesbrough,Charity Commission for England and Wales, Catholic Child Welfare Society (Diocese of Middlesbrough), accessed on 24 June 2025 referred to as the "Middlesbrough defendants") supplied the teachers and managed the school directly. The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (IBCS), an unincorporated association, also controlled where its "Brothers" taught.
The Court of Appeal found that the CCWS was liable, but the IBCS was not jointly liable. CCWS appealed to the UK Supreme Court, contending that IBCS should also be vicariously liable.
Judgment The Supreme Court found the IBCS was jointly liable because it formed part of the whole. 2 AC 1
See also English tort law
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