Tort

A civil wrong, other than breach of contract, causing harm and triggering damages

Overview

Tort law spans negligence, intentional wrongs like assault and trespass, and strict liability for dangerous activities and defective products. Its function is compensation of injured persons, loss spreading, and pricing carelessness so actors internalize the cost of risk. It grew from medieval writs of trespass into a general law of accidents, most famously through the 1932 Donoghue decision recognizing duty to unknown consumers. Unlike crime, tort is privately enforced, and the two can punish the same act simultaneously. Compensation systems like workers compensation replaced tort for workplace accidents in most industrial countries.