Law of tort:-

A tort, in common law jurisdiction, is a civil wrong that causes a candidate to suffer loss or hurt, resulting in legal responsibility for the person who acts as a tortious act. It can cover the intentional punishment of emotional distress, negligence, financial losses, injuries, an intrusion of privacy and many other things.

Tort law, a suit where the purpose of legal action is to get a private civil relief such as damages, may be related to criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable by the state. Tort law may also be compared with contract law, which also gives a civil remedy after a breach of contract; but whereas the contractual duty is one chosen by the parties, the duty in both tort and crime is imposed by the state [citation needed]. In both contract and tort, strong claimants must show that they have suffered foreseeable loss or harm as a direct result of the breach of contract.

Tort Law: Three Types of Torts

Torts are wrongdoings that are done by one party toward another. As a consequence of the wrongdoing, the hurt person may take civil action against the other party. 

• Intentional torts
• Negligence torts
• Strict liability torts

Other types of torts-

• Trespass
• False Imprisonment
• Defamation
• Strict Liability
• Statutory torts
• Business torts

Intentional torts

An intentional tort is when a person or entity purposely interests in conduct that makes injury or damage to another. For example, striking someone in a fight would be consider an intentional act that would fall under the tort of assault; whereas randomly hitting another person would not qualify as “intentional” because there was no intent to strike the individual (…however, this act may be considered negligent if the person hit was hurt).

Although it may seem like an intended tort can be described as a criminal case, there are important differences between the two. A crime can be defined as a wrongful act that harms or interferes with the interests of society.

In comparison, intended torts are wrongful acts that injure or conflict with an individual’s well-being or property. While criminal charges are brought by the government and can result in a fine or jail penalty, tort charges are filed by a plaintiff trying financial compensation for damages that the defendant must pay if they lose. Sometimes a wrongful act may be both a criminal and tort case.

Negligence torts-

There is a special code of conduct that every person is required to follow and the legal duty of the public to act a certain way to decrease the risk of harm to others.

Failure to adhere to these criteria is known as negligence.

Negligence is by far the most common type of tort.

Unlike voluntary torts, negligence cases do not require conscious actions, but instead are when a person or entity is careless and fails to give a duty owed to another person.

The most common causes of negligence torts are cases of slip and fall, which happen when a property owner fails to act as a prudent person would, thus resulting in harm to the visitor or customer.

Examples of Negligence Torts-

• Slip and fall accidents
• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Medical malpractice

Strict liability torts-

End are torts involving strict liability. Strict, or “absolute,” obligation refers to cases where responsibility for an injury can be inflicted on the wrongdoer without proof of negligence or direct fault.

What matters is that an action happened and resulted in the final injury of another person.

Defective product cases are prime examples of when responsibility is maintained notwithstanding intent.

In lawsuits such as these, the damaged consumer only has to establish that their injuries were directly caused by the goods in question to have the law on their rival. The fact that the company did not “intend” for the consumer to be damaged is not apart.

Examples of Strict Liability Torts

• Defective products (Product Liability)
• Animal attacks (dog bite lawsuits)
• Abnormally dangerous activities

Remedies in Tort Law are of 2 types-

• Judicial Remedies:

 These are the remedies that the courts of law terms to an aggrieved person.

• Extra-Judicial Remedies:

If the injured party takes the law in their personal hand (albeit lawfully), the remedies are described as extra-judicial remedies.

Judicial remedies in tort are of three main types

• Damages: Damages or legal losses is the amount of money given to the aggrieved party to bring them back to the state in which they were before the tort had occurred. They are paid to a plaintiff to help them recover the loss they have experienced. Damages are the principal remedy in a cause of action for torts. The word “damages” should not be confounded with the plural of the word “damage” which means ‘harm’ or ‘injury’.
• Injunction: Injunction is an equal remedy possible in torts, given at the discretion of the court. An equal remedy is one in which the court, instead of compensating the aggrieved party, asks the other party to perform his part of the promises. So, when a court asks a person to not continue to do something, or to do something positive so as to recover the damage of the aggrieved party, the court is granting an injunction.
• Specific Restitution of Property: the third judicial remedy available in the Law of Torts is that of Specific Restitution of Property. Restitution means the recovery of goods back to the owner of the goods. When a person is wrongfully stripped of his property or goods, he is called to the recovery of his property.

Extra-judicial Remedies in Tort

These are of 5 principal types:

• Removal of trespasser: A person can use a moderate amount of force to expel a trespasser from his property.
• Re-entry on land: In this case, the owner of a property can remove the trespasser and re-enter his property by doing a fair amount of force.
• Re-caption of goods: In this case, the owner of goods is allowed to recover his/her goods from any person whose illegal possession they are in.
• Abatement: In case of a nuisance, be it private or public, a person (the injured party) can remove the object making a nuisance.
• Distress Damage Peasant: Lastly, suffering damage pheasant. In this case, a person’s cattle/other creatures move to another’s the property and his crops are damaged. The owner of the property is allowed to take possession of the beasts until he is compensated for the loss sustained by him.

The Primary Limitation Period in Tort-

The current limitation periods can be found principally in the Limitation Act, 1980 (as revised by the Latent Damage Act, 1986 and the Consumer Protection Act, 1987).

The fundamental principle is that tort actions are subject to a 6 year limitation period from the date on which the cause of action was collected (section 2). However, there are a few important differences:

The relevant period is 3 years in actions in tort for damages for private injury.

This occurs either from the date on which the cause of action has accrued or from the date on which the injured person first became conscious of his injury (Section 11 and 14).

In the case of latent damage to property viewed below (Section 14A, 14B), a discoverability test is given.

The regular limitation period for claims following the Consumer Protection Act 1987 is 3 years (Section 11A), whether for personal injuries or other forms of damage pursuant to the Act.

Also, 3 years is the limitation period for defamation claims (Section 57 Department of Justice Act, 1985).