LAW OF TORT

A body of rights, obligations, and remedies that is applied by courts in civil
proceedings to provide relief for persons who have suffered harm from the wrongful
acts of others. The person who sustains injury or suffers pecuniary damage as the
result of tortious conduct 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.
Three elements must be established in every tort action. First, the plaintiff must
establish that the defendant was under a legal duty to act in a particular
fashion. Second, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant breached
this duty by failing to conform his or her behavior accordingly. Third, the
plaintiff must prove that he suffered injury or loss as a direct result of the
defendant's breach.
The law of torts is derived from a combination of common-law principles and
legislative enactments. Unlike actions for breach of contract, tort actions are
not dependent upon an agreement between the parties to a lawsuit. Unlike
criminal prosecutions, which are brought by the government, tort actions are
brought by private citizens. Remedies for tortious acts include money damages
and injunctions (court orders compelling or forbidding particular conduct).
Tortfeasors are subject to neither fine nor incarceration in civil court.
The word tort comes from the Latin term torquere, which means "twisted or
wrong." The English Common Law recognized no separate legal action in tort.
Instead, the British legal system afforded litigants two central avenues of
redress: Trespass for direct injuries, and actions "on the case" for indirect
injuries. Gradually, the common law recognized other civil actions, including
Defamation , LIBEL, and slander. Most of the American colonies adopted the
English common law in the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century,
the first U.S. legal treatises were published in which a portion of the common
law was synthesized under the heading of torts.
Over the last century, tort law has touched on nearly every aspect of life in the
United States. In economic affairs, tort law provides remedies for businesses
that are harmed by the unfair and deceptive trade practices of a competitor. In
the workplace, tort law protects employees from the intentional or negligent
infliction of emotional distress. Tort law also helps regulate the environment,
providing remedies against both individuals and businesses that pollute the air,
land, and water to such an extent that it amounts to a Nuisance.
Sometimes tort law governs life's most intimate relations, as when individuals
are held liable for knowingly transmitting communicable diseases to their sexual
partners. When a loved one is killed by a tortious act, surviving family members
may bring a Wrongful Death action to recover pecuniary loss. Tort law also
governs a wide array of behavior in less intimate settings, including the
operation of motor vehicles on public roadways.
The law of torts serves four objectives. First, it seeks to compensate victims for
injuries suffered by the culpable action or inaction of others. Second, it seeks
to shift the cost of such injuries to the person or persons who are legally
responsible for inflicting them. Third, it seeks to discourage injurious, careless,
and risky behavior in the future. Fourth, it seeks to vindicate legal rights and
interests that have been compromised, diminished, or emasculated. In theory
these objectives are served when tort liability is imposed on tortfeasors for
intentional wrongdoing, Negligence, and ultrahazardous activities.
Intentional Torts
An intentional tort is any deliberate interference with a legally recognized
interest, such as the rights to bodily integrity, emotional tranquility, dominion
over property, seclusion from public scrutiny, and freedom from confinement or
deception. These interests are violated by the intentional torts of assault,
Battery, trespass, False Imprisonment , invasion of privacy, conversion,
Misrepresentation , and Fraud. The intent element of these torts is satisfied
when the tortfeasor acts with the desire to bring about harmful consequences
and is substantially certain that such consequences will follow. Mere reckless
behavior, sometimes called willful and wanton behavior, does not rise to the
level of an intentional tort.
Under certain circumstances the law permits individuals to intentionally pursue
a course of conduct that will necessarily result in harm to others. The harm that
results from such conduct is said to be outweighed by more important
interests. Self-preservation is one such interest and is embodied in the right of
Self-Defense . Individuals may exert sufficient force in self-defense.