An Analysis on Public Policies in Universities’ Obligation of Ensuring Students’ Safety

Abstract

It is claimed in Britain and U.S’ s tort laws that obligation and special relationship is by nature a manifestation of public policies. Therefore, when analyzing universities’ obligation of ensuring students’ safety, the court takes public policy into consideration: predictability, the nature and type of risks or damages, adjacency, burden of universities, morality, prevention against future damages, the insurance factor and so on.  Reflected in the tort laws, public policy is actually a method balancing social interests. Since there is no clear rule on whether universities should be committed to guaranteeing students’ safety, the experience of Britain and U.S. should be referred to by China.