What is Tort Law?

You know about the two main types of law that are discussed everyday, civil and criminal law, but what about tort law? It may be interesting for you to know that tort law is one of the most practiced and in-depth types of law in our world today. It is done everyday in many different forms that you may not realize. What follows is an explanation for what tort law is and in what forms that it comes in.

First, a "tort" is defined by the AICPCU (American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters) as follows: "A wrongful act or omission, other than a crime or a breach of contract, for which the remedy is usually monetary damages." This type of law is used everyday in insurance claims offices around the world and consists of three different types of tort law; negligence, intentional torts and absolute liability. Here is a brief description of each.

Negligence is the most common type of liability loss and is what auto insurance companies deal with every day. To be considered negligent you must have a duty to act, breach that duty, have damage or injury occur and the breach of duty must be the cause of the damage or injury. Liability insurance claims adjusters will make decisions on negligence for you to live with.

Intentional torts are acts that you commit to intentionally cause harm to another individual, verbally or physically. Libel and slander are two examples of intentional torts, as are assault, battery, trespassing and nuisance. Any time that you commit an act that you know will cause harm you are committing an intentional tort against that individual or group.

The last type of tort is absolute liability and this is a totally different case from the first two. Absolute liability can occur without having to prove negligence on the guilty party. For instance, if you own a pit bull and keep it in your back yard on a leash and it gets out and hurts someone this is absolute liability. No negligence is necessary because you assumed the liability when you decided to own the pet.

Tort law differs from civil and criminal law in that it does not usually get settled in a court of law. Tort law is settled in attorney's offices, claims offices and board rooms across the globe everyday. This is because it is a set of rules that are known to be true across the legal spectrum.