Tort is a wide and fascinating area of law which encompasses areas such as negligence, libel and slander and trespass to land. Tort is often the relevant area of law when an individual suffers harm due to the actions of someone else. This could include intentional physical harm, for example, if someone punched another person, or it could be unintentional harm, for example, a car accident which causes harm to another person through physical injury and harm to their property (damaged car).
Over several blog posts I will give a overview of some of these areas of Tort, providing lots of everyday examples to explain how the principles of Tort are applied in real life.
But firstly, what does Tort mean?
The word Tort essentially means ‘wrong’. A tort occurs when there has been an infringement of a legal right or the breach of a legal duty and it will give rise to a claim in the civil courts. As mentioned above, it is the branch of law that deals with someone suing another individual because of the actions of that individual.
If a person commits a tort they will be described as a tortfeasor and they will have tortious liability.
Tort is distinguishable from crime and contract law, although there can be some overlap. There are situations where it is possible to have both criminal and tortious liability. For example, if Jon was to punch Sam in the face it would be a crime as it would constitute physical assault but it would also give rise to a Trespass to the Person claim in Tort. However, whilst criminal claims are usually brought by a public officials, such as the CPS (see my blogs on Criminal Law), Torts are brought by the injured party. Tort cases seek to compensate the victim and are dealt with in the civil courts whereas criminal cases are dealt with in criminal courts are meant to punish the offender. (see my blog posts on the court system)
Contract and Tort claims are both civil claims and usually the claimant will seek damages as a remedy. However, there are big differences. Firstly, in Contract for a claim to arise, there must be a contractual relationship between the parties. Additionally, the obligations owed by the defendant are fixed and set out by the terms of the contract (these can be implied by law). The scope for liability in Tort is much wider and is imposed by law.
Tort Claim
To establish a claim in Tort the claimant must prove the elements of the specific tort (such as Negligence) which have developed through the common law. The burden of proof lies with the claimant; they must establish that the defendant has committed a tort. The standard of proof is ‘on the balance of probabilities’ which is a lower standard of proof that criminal cases.
In my next blog posts on Tort, I will examine some of the key Torts. My next post will be on Trespass to the Person.
