Tort Law Overview

A tort generally consists of a failure to fulfill a private obligation that was imposed by law. It only has to deal with private law and normally the remedy for damages is monetary compensation. One who commits a tort in tort law is called a Tortfeasor. Both torts and contract involve primary and secondary obligations; primary obligations state how people should act. Secondary obligations are how someone must act after a primary obligation has been broken. For example, you should not go around hitting people in the face; this is a primary obligation. There are certain obligations in business which allow individuals who are part of a contract to be sued or can sue; this is privity. Anyone outside of this contract cannot sue someone inside the contract; when of course it has to do with subjects held within the contract. A general rule to follow to know about contracts and torts are that torts deal with what has been done in the past, where as contracts look forward to what might be done in the future.

Types of Torts include: Intentional, Negligence, and Strict Liability. An intentional tort is one which was committed knowingly and the tortfeasor intended to do the tort. A negligence tort is committed when one acts carelessly; unknowingly committing a tort. Finally, strict liability is a non-intentional act but still held responsible for all which conspired. More detailed information about Torts can be found at Tort Law Box.

Remedies of torts are not necessarily all the same. They include: Compensatory damages, Punitive damages, Nominal damages, and Injunctions. As said above, compensation damages are normally monetary and require one to replace the value of all that was lost. Punitive damages are charged when normally nothing of real monetary value was lost, and is intended to punish a tortfeasor for committing a tort. Nominal damages are more of a symbolic award; they are charged when the plaintiff did not suffer a loss whatsoever. In special circumstances, courts can order a defendant to DO or NOT DO something; this would be an injunction. As well, there are such things called alternative compensation schemes. These are not scams or schemes like you may think, but are ideas to help people pay for damages; Workers compensation, and No-fault insurance are examples of these alternative compensation schemes. Why would anyone want to use these alternative compensations schemes? It is because tort law only compensates based on a person injured as a result of a wrongful act, and tort law is inefficient and expensive to run through a courtroom.

To find more information please see here.
All other information gathered comes from a 2008 Ryerson University Law 102 lecture on Tort by Jane Monro.