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What is "tort"

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tort
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
tort
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
commit
▪ This causes no problem, as the defendant can be said to be at fault whenever he commits a tort.
▪ Before this defence has any role to play it must be shown that the defendant has committed a tort.
▪ Note that A had certainly committed no tort to C in leaving the lamps there.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Both the above cases are personal injury cases and tort damages are not the only form of compensation available.
▪ But it is still possible to fall between tort damages and entitlement to social security.
▪ If the problem appears to be a novel one, it may raise the theory of general liability in tort.
▪ In Donoghue v. Stevenson we see the synthesis of the previous decisions on the tort of negligence.
▪ It is not possible to consider this scheme in a tort book and students should consult a specialist work for detail.
▪ This mutual exclusiveness of subjects does not hold between tort and contract.
▪ Where the tort is followed by a disabling illness, this must be taken into account in assessing the tortfeasor's liability.
▪ Where there are two successive torts, the first tortfeasor's liability is unaffected by the second tort.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tort

Tort \Tort\, n. [F., from LL. tortum, fr. L. tortus twisted, crooked, p. p. of torqure to twist, bend. See Torture.]

  1. Mischief; injury; calamity. [Obs.]

    That had them long opprest with tort.
    --Spenser.

  2. (Law) Any civil wrong or injury; a wrongful act (not involving a breach of contract) for which an action will lie; a form of action, in some parts of the United States, for a wrong or injury.

    Executor de son tort. See under Executor.

    Tort feasor (Law), a wrongdoer; a trespasser.
    --Wharton.

Tort

Tort \Tort\, a. Stretched tight; taut. [R.]

Yet holds he them with tortest rein.
--Emerson.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
tort

mid-13c., "injury, wrong," from Old French tort "wrong, injustice, crime" (11c.), from Medieval Latin tortum "injustice," noun use of neuter of tortus "wrung, twisted," past participle of Latin torquere "turn, turn awry, twist, wring, distort" (see torque (n.)). Legal sense of "breach of a duty, whereby someone acquires a right of action for damages" is first recorded 1580s.

Wiktionary
tort

Etymology 1 a. tart, sharp. Etymology 2

n. 1 An injury or wrong. (from the mid-13th c.) 2 (context legal English) A wrongful act, whether intentional or negligence, which causes an injury and can be remedied at civil law, usually through awarding damages. (from the later 16th c.) 3 (rfc-sense) (context in the plural '''torts''' English) The area of law dealing with such wrongful acts. Etymology 3

a. (context obsolete English) Stretched tight; taut.

WordNet
tort

n. (law) any wrongdoing for which an action for damages may be brought [syn: civil wrong]

Wikipedia
Tort

A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a civil wrong that unfairly causes someone else to suffer loss or harm resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act, called a tortfeasor. Although crimes may be torts, the cause of legal action is not necessarily a crime, as the harm may be due to negligence which does not amount to criminal negligence. The victim of the harm can recover their loss as damages in a lawsuit. In order to prevail, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, commonly referred to as the injured party, must show that the actions or lack of action was the legally recognizable cause of the harm. The equivalent of tort in civil law jurisdictions is delict.

Legal injuries are not limited to physical injuries and may include emotional, economic, or reputational injuries as well as violations of privacy, property, or constitutional rights. Torts comprise such varied topics as auto accidents, false imprisonment, defamation, product liability, copyright infringement, and environmental pollution ( toxic torts). While many torts are the result of negligence, tort law also recognizes intentional torts, where a person has intentionally acted in a way that harms another, and in a few cases (particularly for product liability in the United States) "strict liability" which allows recovery without the need to demonstrate negligence.

Tort law is different from criminal law in that: (1) torts may result from negligent as well as intentional or criminal actions and (2) tort lawsuits have a lower burden of proof such as preponderance of evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt. Sometimes a plaintiff may prevail in a tort case even if the person who allegedly caused harm was acquitted in an earlier criminal trial. For example, O. J. Simpson was acquitted in criminal court of murder but later found liable for the tort of wrongful death.

Usage examples of "tort".

Consequently, the State courts were deprived of jurisdiction of a great number of cases arising out of maritime contracts and torts over which they had exercised jurisdiction prior to 1866.

The third law applied to insults, batteries, wounds, blows, torts, effusion of blood, and similar injuries inflicted at the season of the Nativity, the week of Pasque, and at Pentecost.

Clay Carter, the so-called newest King of Torts, received a taste of his own medicine yesterday when he was sued by some disgruntled clients.

So I went back to college and crammed up on artificial intelligence law and ethics, the jurisprudence of uploading, and recursive tort.

It was in old French, and ran somewhat in this way: Or avant, entre nous tous freres Battons nos charognes bien fort En remembrant la grant misere De Dieu et sa piteuse mort Qui fut pris en la gent amere Et vendus et trais a tort Et bastu sa chair, vierge et dere Au nom de ce battons plus fort.

It held that although an officer in such a situation is not immune from suits for his own torts, yet his official action, though tortious cannot be enjoined or diverted, since it is also the action of the sovereign.

Every potential client had received a professionally done packet touting the exploits of the newest King of Torts.

He had read about mass torts but had no idea its practitioners were such an organized and specialized group.

Lawyers in the bunch wanted to talk about the joys of mass torts while pressing close to Ridley.

Mass torts are a scam, a consumer rip-off, a lottery driven by greed that will one day harm all of us.

Kings of Torts would be hauled in and stripped naked before the juries.

Clay Carter, the King of Torts, who, as we all know, has never tried a tort case.

She was in my torts class last fall and has spent most of her time since on her twin loves: our legal-aid clinic, where she helps welfare mothers avoid eviction, and her collection of statistics, by which she hopes to show that the white race is headed for self-destruction, a prospect that gladdens her.

I must schedule makeup classes for torts and for my seminar, which I am missing for this entire week, and still find time to finish the overdue revised draft of my article on mass tort litigation for the law review, which I originally planned to pursue this past weekend.

As I sat in my office preparing for my torts class following the baffling conversation with Stuart Land, I felt its call.