Hewison v Meridian Shipping Services Pte [2002] EWCA 1821 is an English tort law case, concerning an employer's liability for an employee's illegal acts.

Meridian Shipping was responsible for a workplace accident, contrary to Employer's Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969, whereby Mr Hewison was struck in the head by a gangway.

Mr Hewison submitted that, despite his failure to declare his illness (which, it was conceded, amounted to obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception contrary to s 16 Theft Act 1968), it would be an affront to public conscience were he denied a remedy for Meridian Shipping's negligence and breach of statutory duty.

The principle from Clunis v Camden and Islington Health Authority[1] applied here, so that a claimant cannot rely on an unlawful act to enable recovery in tort.

It was added that the court would not deny restitution if the illegality was collateral or insignificant, but it rejected the notion that recovery should be allowed merely because denial might affront "public conscience".