Does the tort of misfeasance in public office apply to an individual officer or officer?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Carhoun and Sons Enterprises Ltd. v Canada (Attorney General), 2018 BCSC 1675 (CanLII):

The plaintiff in this case has sued the municipality, a municipal corporation, rather than an individual officer or officers. The caselaw demonstrates that courts have not maintained any distinction between officer holders and the office itself. The tort of misfeasance in public office has been sustained against a wide variety of defendants including individual officer holders, municipalities and government ministries and bodies. The seminal case of Three Rivers District Council v. Bank of England (2002) W.L.R. 1220 (H.L.) noted that the term “public office” has a wide meaning. Three Rivers and the other cases implicitly suggest that proceedings can be maintained against an individual office holder as well as against an entire entity as in this case.

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