Tort - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition tort

Definition :

Tort [fr. tortus, Lat.], an injury or wrong independent of contract, as by assault, libel, malicious prosecution, negligence, slander, or trespass (see those titles). Actions are divided into actions in contract and actions in tort: see as to county Court jurisdiction in actions of tort when claim is under 100l. (except libel, slander seduction). See County Courts Act, 1934, s. 40, and as to costs of actions of tort commenced in High Court which could have been commenced in County Court, see s. 47, and COUNTY COURT. An action founded on tort was Tort [fr. tortus, Lat.], an injury or wrong independent of contract, as by assault, libel, malicious prosecution, negligence, slander, or trespass (see those titles). Actions are divided into actions in contract and actions in tort: see as to county Court jurisdiction in actions of tort when claim is under 100l. (except libel, slander seduction). See County Courts Act, 1934, s. 40, and as to costs of actions of tort commenced in High Court which could have been commenced in County Court, see s. 47, and COUNTY COURT. An action founded on tort was been held to include--detinue [Bryant v. Herbert, (1877) 3 CPD 389]; an action against a carrier for loss of goods by refusal to stop in transitu [Pontifex v. Mid. Ry. Co., (1877) 3 QBD 23]; and an action for injury to a railway passenger [Kelly v. Metropolitan Ry. Co., (1895) 1 QB 944]. The distinction between tort and contract is not a logical one and it is sometimes difficult to say whether a particular thing is a wrong or a breach of contract. If the claim of the plaintiff had been set out at large pointing to some particular stipulation in the contract, which stipulation had been broken, the action would be founded on contract, but where it is only necessary to refer to the contract to establish the relationship between the parties and the claim goes on to aver a breach of duty arising out of that relationship, the action is one of tort--per Collins, M.R., in Sachs v. Henderson, (1902) 1 KB 612. Apparently if the plaintiff has suffered an injury for which, apart from the contract, he could have recovered damages, it is a tort, although it may also be a breach of contract and not less if the tort has been suffered in the execution or purported execution of the contract, Turner v. Stallibrass, (1898) 1 QB 56.

A married woman cannot sue her husband for tort unless the action is for the protection and security of her separate property, Ralston v. Ralston, (1930) 2 KB 238. Consult Addison on Torts; Clerk & Lindsell on Torts.

Tort dictionarily means 'breach of duty leading to damage'. Same meaning attaches to it in law. In general, torts consist of some act done without just cause or excuse, Jay Laxmi Salt Works (P) Ltd. v. State of Gujarat, (1994) 4 SCC 1 (9).

It means a civil wrong which is not exclusively the breach of a contract or the breach of a trust. [Limitation Act, 1963 (36 of 1963), s. 2 (m)]

Tort has been derived form the Latin word 'tortus' which means 'twisted' or 'crooked'. In its original and most general sense, 'tort' is a wrong Jowitti's Dictionary of English Law defines Tort as under:

'Tort signifies an act which gives rise to a right of action, being a wrongful act or injury consisting in the infringement of a right created otherwise than by a contract. Torts are divisible into three classes, according as they consist in the infringement of a jus in rem, or in breech of a duty imposed by law on a person towards another person, or in the breach of a duty imposed by law on a person towards the public, Jourtt's Dictionary of English Law; Common Cause v. Union of India, AIR 1999 SC 2979 (3004): (1999) 6 SCC 667.'

Means a civil wrong for which a remedy may be obtained, usually in the form of damages, a breach of duty that the law imposes on every one in the same relation to one another as those involved in a given transaction, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1497.'