Etymology

respondeat superior

Today it means: A legal doctrine which holds that an employer, officer, manager, supervisor, or other individual or group superior to an employee or subordinate may be legally liable for the acts of that employee or subordinate. Full definition →

Medieval Latin respondeat superior
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The story

  1. Medieval Latin · borrowed fromrespondeat superior“let the superior respond or meet a charge”
  2. English todayrespondeat superior

From Medieval Latin respondeat superior (“let the superior respond or meet a charge”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.