lawyer

#What is tort law? Law and Government

A ‘tort’ is a legal wrong, for which the law provides a remedy. It is a civil action taken by one citizen against another and tried in court. A person who sustains injury or suffers pecuniary damage as a result of the wrongful act of another person is known as the plaintiff and the person who is responsible for inflicting the injury and incurs liability for the damage is known as the defendant or tortfeasor.

How can tort law be distinguished from other types of law?

The law of torts derives from a combination of common-law principles arising from case law and legislative enactments. It can be distinguished from actions for breach of contract simply on the basis that tort actions are not dependant on any agreement between the parties to the lawsuit. While criminal prosecutions are enforced by the police and brought by the government, tort actions are brought by private citizens. In addition, tortfeasors will not receive fines or be sentenced to prison through civil courts.

Some examples of tort law

Negligence

The tort of negligence is the most common type of tort you will come across and is the term used to characterize behaviour that poses unreasonable risks of harm to persons and property. The elements that need to be established for the tort of negligence are:

• The existence of a duty of care between the defendant and the plaintiff
• A breach of that duty by the defendant (did his behaviour fall below the threshold of a ‘reasonable man’?)
• Injury or loss suffered by the plaintiff as a direct result of the defendant’s breach

Three further factors that must be considered when establishing duty of care: that the harm was reasonably foreseeable; that the defendant and plaintiff were in a relationship of ‘proximity’; and that it is fair, just and reasonable to impose liability on the defendant.

The concept of ‘Novus Actus Interveniens’ is a Latin concept that revolves around the idea that the act of a third party will intervene between the original act or omission and the damage that is produced as a result. This is often considered to be a general defence to the law of tort and particularly the tort of negligence.

People have the right to quiet enjoyment of their own land and if anyone should interfere with that, be it through being noisy, creating bad smells or polluting the land they are liable to be sued by the property owner under the nuisance tort law.

Intentional torts

Intentional acts that are reasonably foreseeable to cause harm to someone, and do cause harm to someone, are covered by intentional tort law. These include several subcategories, including tort(s) against the person such as assault, battery, false imprisonment, the intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud. Property related torts involve any intentional interference with someone’s property, such as trespass to land.

Successful plaintiffs in tort law cases will usually be awarded compensation in ‘damages’ or money. However, in the case of a continuing tort or a tort that is merely threatened, the court may grant an injunction to prevent future harm.