FICTION
An assumption made by a court and embodied in
various legal doctrines that a fact or concept is true
when in actuality it is not true, or when it is likely
to be equally false and true.
A legal fiction is created for the purpose of
promoting the ends of justice. A common-law
action, for example, allowed a father to bring suit
against his daughter’s seducer, based on the legal
fiction of the loss of her services. Similarly, the
law of TORTS encompasses the legal fiction of the
rule of VICARIOUS LIABILITY, which renders an
employer responsible for the civil wrongs of his or
her employees that are committed during their
course of employment. Even though the employer
generally is uninvolved in the actual act constitut-
ing the tort, the law holds the employer respon-
sible since, through a legal fiction, he or she is
deemed to be in direct control of the employee’s
actions. A seller of real estate might, for exam-
ple, be liable in an action for FRAUD committed
