Determination of the Employer Status within Simple Partnership in the Context of Tort Liability of the Partners

Simple partnership, which constitutes the basic partnership model in Turkish law, emerges in a wide range from performing the simplest work to the execution of the most complex commercial activity. The provisions regarding simple partnership, which is regulated as a contractual debt relationship under the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (TCO), are general provisions for all partnership types and are applied as supplementary. In a simple partnership relationship, which does not have a legal personality, each partner is responsible for his own tortious act. On the other hand, in the context of Article 66 TCO which provides the liability of the employer, the liability of all partners may arise for the damage caused to third parties by the person employed for the purpose of carrying out a work belonging to the partnership. Article 66/III TCO greatly expands the scope of the duty of care for employers in enterprises and thus, aggravates the liability. This study evaluates, in the context of this type of liability, to whom the status of employer belongs in a simple partnership, with respect to various possibilities regarding the holder of management authority.