GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TORT
Tort is a civil wrong that causes harm or injury to another person or their property, for which a legal remedy is available. It is a type of legal action that allows an individual who has suffered harm or injury due to the wrongful conduct of another person or entity to seek compensation for their losses.
Torts can be intentional, meaning that the wrongful conduct was done with the intent to cause harm, or they can be unintentional, such as negligence, where the wrongful conduct was not intended but occurred due to a failure to exercise reasonable care.
Examples of torts include defamation, assault, battery, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among others. The purpose of tort law is to compensate individuals who have been harmed or injured and to deter others from engaging in similar conduct in the future.
Tort law is an area of law that deals with civil wrongs and the liability that arises from those wrongs. The general principles of tort law include:
- Duty of Care: A person or organization owes a duty of care to others to ensure that they do not cause harm or injury to them.
- Breach of Duty: If a person or organization fails to exercise reasonable care and causes harm or injury to another person, they have breached their duty of care.
- Causation: There must be a causal link between the breach of duty and the harm or injury suffered by the victim.
- Damage: The victim must have suffered actual harm or injury as a result of the breach of duty.
- Contributory Negligence: If the victim contributed to their own harm or injury by their own negligence or recklessness, their damages may be reduced.
- Vicarious Liability: An employer may be held liable for the wrongful acts of their employees if those acts were committed in the course of their employment.
- Strict Liability: In some circumstances, a person or organization may be held liable for harm or injury caused by their actions, even if they did not intend to cause harm or were not negligent.
These are some of the general principles of tort law, although the specific rules and standards may vary depending on the jurisdiction and the type of tort involved.
