Pedigo v. Rowley , 101 Idaho 201 ( 1980 )

DONALDSON, Chief Justice,

specially concurring.

It is appropriate to add a word in response to the view tendered in Part I of the dissenting opinion. It is there implied that, unless it can be shown that the reasons advanced in support of parental immunity are significantly different from those advanced in support of interspousal immunity, “we should be consistent, follow our decision in Yellowstone, and reject the doctrine of parental immunity.”

The relationship of parent and child is simply not the same as that of husband and wife, a distinction the dissent ignores. While some of the bases for interspousal arid parental immunity doubtless overlap, the doctrine of parental immunity is mandated by at least one fundamental policy which is wholly independent of those offered in support of interspousal immunity. Our society has traditionally entrusted to parents the delicate process of rearing and training children, and it is not the province of courts to second-guess the daily workings of that process.

In the spousal relationship, there is no comparable process of rearing and training. Although we might safely assume that sometime during the course of any marriage, each spouse may well attempt to “train” the other in one or more particulars, perhaps even successfully, the principles involved are simply not the same.

In sum, our recognition today of a narrow parental immunity in a case involving alleged passive negligence in the supervision of a child, is not inconsistent with our prior rejection of the doctrine of interspousal immunity in a case which involved active negligence in the operation of an automobile.

McFADDEN, J., concurs.