[f. LIABLE + -ITY.]
1. Law. The condition of being liable or answerable by law or equity.
1794–1809. E. Christian, Note, in Blackstone’s Comm., III. 165. It exempts them from all liability to answer for a loss occasioned by fire.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 1031. Of the Liability of the Master in respect of a tortious Act done by the Servant.
1875. Maine, Hist. Inst., ix. 259. The Pignoris Capio could be generally resorted to in the absence of the person under liability.
b. Comm. Limited liability: the position or state of being legally responsible only to a limited extent (usually the amount of one’s stock or shares) for the debts of a trading company of which one is a member. Also attrib. in limited liability company. (For the shortened form limited company, see LIMITED.) Also transf.
1855. in Hansard’s Parl. Deb., Ser. III. CXXXIX. 358. Bill read 2°, as was also the Limited Liabilities Bill.
1858. Ld. St. Leonards, Handy-Bk. Prop. Law, xxi. 162. A private company … has been formed for the purpose of executing trusts and executorships, but limited. Such associations are not only open to all the objections which I have pointed out, but their limited liability would deter a prudent man from intrusting them with his fortune.
1890. Review of Rev., II. 541/1. Barings were as good as the Bank once. Now they are only a limited liability firm.
1894. Sala, Lond. up to Date, 147. Those were the days of Joint Stock Companies, and the Act authorizing the formation of companies with Limited Liability had not yet been passed.
1897. Times, 15 Feb., 8/3. This does not give her [Greece] a right to assume that she can make war with limited liability.
2. The condition of being liable or subject to something, apt or likely to do something.
1809. A. Henry, Trav., 118. Their mode of life … accounts for their liability to these diseases.
1815. L. Hunt, Feast of Poets, &c. Notes 120. A genius for poetry is nothing but a finer liability to impressions.
1874. Green, Short Hist., ix. § 1. 596. His [Bacon’s] noble confession of the liability of every inquirer to error.
1883. Froude, Short Stud., IV. iii. 294. Liability to military service is a universal condition of citizenship.
3. That for which one is liable; esp. pl. the debts or pecuniary obligations of a person or company.
1842. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), III. ix. 169. At the suggestion of friends a subscription was raised to meet these liabilities.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, III. 561. Although it was relieved of a part of its liabilities, it was burthened with a heavy annual payment.
1861. Goschen, For. Exch., 18. The effect of profits and commissions on the mutual liabilities of nations.
