How do crimes and torts differ?

A crime is an offense against society. It is a public wrong.

A tort, in contrast, is a private or civil wrong – an offense against an individual. If a tort occurs, the person injured can sue and obtain a judgment for money damages from the person who committed the tort. The money is intended to compensate for the injury.

One act can be both a tort and a crime. Then the defendant is both criminally liable (for a fine and/or a jail sentence) and civilly liable (for monetary damages).

What are the elements of a tort?

There are certain elements which are common to all torts. In a trial, these elements must be proved to establish liability (legal responsibility) for any specific tort. The elements of a tort are:

1. a duty owed by one person to another to do or not to do a certain thing,

2. violation or breach of the duty,

3. injury recognized by the law, and

4. proximate causation of the injury by the breach.

1. The Duty

Since everyone has the duty to respect the rights of others, eve­ryone therefore has certain resultant duties. The following are the principal duties created by tort law:

1. the duty not to injure the another person: this includes bodily injury, injury to some­one’s reputation, or invasion of someone’s privacy,

2. the duty not to interfere with the property rights of others, such as by trespassing on their land,

3. the duty not to interfere with the economic rights of others, such as the right to contract.

2. Violation of the Duty

A breach (or violation) of the duty, must be proved before the injured party can collect damages for a tort.

3. Injury

Generally injury resulting from the breach of duty is required before the courts will hold a person liable in tort. For example, if you act very recklessly, but no one is injured, there is usually no tort.

4. Proximate Causation

Causation is simply the idea that the breach of the duty caused the injury. Generally proximate cause exists when it is foreseeable that a particular breach of duty will result in a particular injury.

Exercise 11. Match the following:

1. tort 6. assault 11.reasonable man standard

2. battery 7. conversion 12.proximate cause

3. damages 8. defamation 13.negligence

4. invasion of privacy 9. libel 14.trespass

5. wrongful interference with 10. slander 15.strict liability

business relations

a. invasion of right to conduct a business

b. wrongful interference with the use of another’s property

c. reasonably foreseeable cause of injury

d. oral defamation

e. responsibility for injury regardless of negligence or attempt

f. written defamation

g. failure to use reasonable care

h. an offense against an individual

i. injury of a person’s reputation by false statements, oral or written

j. the duty to act with the care, prudence, and good judgment of a reasonable person k. harmful or offensive touching of another

l. unlawful intrusion into another’s private life causing mental or emotional injury

m. placing another in fear of harmful or offensive touching

n. monetary compensation for loss or injury

o. wrongfully depriving another of possession of personal property

Exercise 12. Read and translate the information about law clinics. Then make a report about the law clinic in your university.

Tort law covers many legal problems, from everyday accidents to deliberate attempts to harm a person’s reputation or business interests. Because of this, tort is one of the most litigated areas of law.

Seeking the advice of a lawyer, taking a case to court or defending yourself in a lawsuit can be very expensive. Law clinics can provide a free alternative to consulting a lawyer in a private firm.

The term “law clinic” (or legal clinic) may refer to any private, nonprofit law practice serving the public interest. In the academic context, these law school clinics provide hands-on experience to law school students and services to various (typically indigent) clients. Academic Clinics are usually directed by clinical professors. Many legal clinics offer pro bono work in one or more particular areas, providing free legal services to clients. The remainder of this article will discuss clinical legal education.

Students typically provide assistance with research, drafting legal arguments, and meeting with clients. In many cases, one of the clinic’s professors will show up for oral argument before the Court. However, many jurisdictions have “student practice” rules that allow law-clinic students to appear and argue in court.

Kent Law Clinic (University of Kent, UK)

Kent Law School was the first in Britain to open a law clinic and to develop a “clinical legal studies” programme as part of its undergraduate curriculum.

The Law Clinic is a partnership between students, academics and solicitors and barristers in practice locally. It has two objects: to provide a public service for local people who need legal advice and representation but cannot afford to pay for it, and to enhance the education of students in the Kent Law School through direct experience of legal practice.

In the Law Clinic students have the full conduct of cases on behalf of clients – under the close supervision of qualified lawyers. They can deepen and broaden their knowledge of law through the experience of working on live cases.

Students can also develop specific legal skills. The casework requires them to undertake such tasks as interviewing, legal research, corresponding, drafting statements of case, negotiating and appearing as advocates before the Employment Tribunal, the County Court and other forums. Work carried out in the Law Clinic can count towards a student’s final degree in law, and there are many ways that students can get involved.