2.1 Introduction
Tort liability under Norwegian law for a protected interest requires a basis for liability, an economic loss and adequate causality between the liable act and the loss arising from it. In the following we will focus on the basis of liability.
Liability under Norwegian law may, in principle, be based either on liability due to negligence or on some form of strict liability. A question in this respect is whether the government’s liability due to unlawful exercise of public authority is strict or based on negligence. This is discussed in section 2.2 below.
The State’s negligence liability can arise either on the basis of the principle of director’s liability (“organansvar”) or that of employer liability due to negligence of employees, on the basis of Section 2-1 of the Norwegian Tort Act. In practice, the question of employer liability is in many cases likely to be the most practical alternative and we will therefore focus on this basis for liability in relation to potential negligent behaviour in section 2.3 below.
Another question is whether a particular category of strict liability, on the basis of breach of established expectations, could potentially apply to the State. This question is discussed in more detail below in section 4.