LAW OF TORTS

MEANING AND DEFINITION:

 "Tort' essentially means a 'wrong' and originates from the Latin word 'tortum', which means 'twisted' or 'crooked'
 In law, tort is defined as a civil wrong or a wrongful act, of one, either intentional or accidental, that results in
the injury or harm to another who in turn has recourse to civil remedies for damages or a court order or
injunction.

NATURE OF TORT:

Tort and Crime

Tort and Breach of Contract Tort and Breach of Trust

• Tort is a private wrong and crime is , public
wrong.
• Since tort is considered to be a private wrong
the injured party himself has to file a suit as • A breach of contract results from the
a plaintiff. And if at any stage the injured breach of a duty undertaken by the parties
party likes, he may agree to a compromise • In the case of breach of trust by the
themselves with their free consent. A tort.
with the fort feasor and withdraw the suit trustee, the beneficence can claim such
on the other hand, results from the breach
filed by him. But in criminal cases proceedings compensation which depends upon the loss
of such duties which are not undertaken by
against wrong dies brought by the state and that the trust property has suffered.
the parties themselves but which are
except in certain exceptional cases, law does • The damages in the case of breach of trust
imposed by law.
not permit settlement between parties. are liquidated while on the other hand
• In a contract the duty is based on the
• In the case of tort the ends of justice are met damages in a tort are unliquidated.
privity of contract and each party owes duty
by awarding compensation to the injured party. only to the other contracting party.
But in the case of crime, the wrong doer is
punished.
 ESSENTIALS OF TORT:

There must be some act or omission on the part of the defendant Injuria sine damnum
It means violation of a legal right without causing any harm,
lessor damage to the plaintiff.
Ashby Vs. White is a leading case explaining the maxim
injuria sine damnum. In this case, plaintiff was a qualified
voter but the defendant returning officer, wrongfully refused
There must be violation of a legal right of a person to take plaintiff's vote. No loss was suffered by such refusal
because the candidate for whom he wanted to vote won the
election in spite of that. It was held that the defendant was
liable.

The act or omission should result in legal damage

Damnum sine injuria

It means damage is not coupled with unauthorized
interference with an the plaintiff's lawful right.
Injuria sine damnum and Damnum sine injuria Gloucester Grammar School case explains this maxim.
According to the facts of the case; A, the defendant set up
a rival school to that of plaintiff's. Because of competition
the plaintiff had to reduce their fees. It was held that the
plaintiffs had no remedy for the loss thus suffered by them.

A right without a remedy would be redundant

 DEFENCES: ACT PF GOD (VIS MAJEUR):

‘General defences’ are those defences which do not depend upon

the nature of tort.  Act of God may be defined as “circumstances which no
They are available in all types of torts. human foresight can provide against any of which human
prudence is not bound to recognize the possibility, and
which when they do occur, therefore, are calamities that
do not involve the obligation of paying for the
‘Special defences’ are those defences which depend upon the consequences that result from them”.
nature of the tort. They  Ex:- The falling of a tree, a flash of lightening, a
are available for that tort only. tornado, storms, tempests, tides, volcanic eruptions, or a
flood.

Volenti Non fit Injuria (Consent or Leave and Licence)

 The maxim is based on the principle of common sense. If
I invite you to my house, can I sue you for trespass?
Answer is no, because I have consented to your entry
upon my land.
 But if a guest who is to be entertained in the drawing
room enters into my bedroom without my permission, he
can be sued for trespass, because his entry into the
bedroom is unauthorised.
 A postman entering into the house for delivering a letter
cannot be sued if he remains within a permissible limit,
because in such a case the consent is inferred but if the
postman crosses that permissible limit he can be sued.
 VICARIOUS LIABILITY:

Vicarious liability is the liability of one person for the act done by another person may arise.
The common examples of such a liability are
1. Liability of the principal for the tort of his agent.
2. Liability of partners of each other's tort.
3. Liability of the master for the tort of his servant.

1. Principal and Agent: 3. Master and Servant

It is based on the principle "Oui facit per alium If a servant does a wrongful act in the course of
facit per se' which means that the act of an agent
2. Partners his employment, the master is liable for it. The
is the act of the principal. Where one person For the tort committed by any partner in servant of course is also liable. The wrongful act of
authorizes another to commit a tort, the liability for the ordinary course of the business of the the servant is deemed to be the act of the master
that will be not only of that person who has firm all the other partners are liable as well.e.g.,1. 'A' is car driver and servant of 'B'. If
committed it but also of that who authorized it. therefore to the same extent as the guilty he negligently knocks down 'X', 'B' is liablefor
The authority to do the act may be expressed or partner. The liability of each partner is that.2. If B hires a taxi for going to railway station
implied.e.g., If the owner of a car asked his friend and the taxi driver negligently hits 'X', 'B' will not
to drive his car and while driving, car was collided
joint and several. be liable towards 'X* because the driver is not his
with a bus. The owner of the car was held liable. servant but an independent contractor.

Vicarious Liability of State

• In India Article 300 of the Constitution of India governs the suability of the State.
• It states that the Union and State Government can be sued subject to the provisions of the law made by the Parliament and the State
Legislature respectively.
• The State for the tortious acts of its servants, can be sued only in case of its non-sovereign functions but not in case of its sovereign functions.
 NEGLIGENCE:

Res Ipsa Loquitur:

• As a rule the onus of proving negligence is on the plaintiff. He
must not merely establish the facts of the defendant's negligence
and of his own damage, but must show that the one was the
effect of the other. But in certain cases when plaintiff need not
prove that and inference of negligence is drown from the facts.
Negligence takes innumerable forms, but the commonest forms Thus, direct evidence of negligence is not always necessary and
are negligence causing personal injuries or death, of which species the same may be inferred from the circumstances of the case.
are employers’ liability to an employee, the liability of occupiers of
land to visitors thereon, the liability of suppliers to consumers, of • There is a presumption of negligence according to this maxim,
persons doing work to their clients, of persons handling vehicles to which means the thing speaks for itself.
other road-users, and so on.
e.g., If a brick falls from a building and injures a passer-by on the
highway or the goods while in the possession of a bailee are lost, or
death of a person is caused by live broken electric wire in a street
Essentials of Negligence: presumption of negligence is raised in the above examples.
• That the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff
• That the defendant made a breach of the duty.
• That plaintiff suffered damage as a consequence thereof.
 NUISANCE: DEFAMATION:

 Defamation is a tort which injures reputation by exposing a person to

hatred, contempt or ridicule, and is therefore actionable.
 If a person injures the reputation of another he does so at his own risk.
Defamation is both a civil and a criminal wrong.
 Defamation is a reasonable restriction on the fundamental right of
freedom of speech and expression.

Essentials of Defamation:
Nuisance as a tort means an unlawful interference with a  The words must be false and defamatory
person’s use or enjoyment of land, or some right over, or in  The said words must refers to the plaintiff
connection with it.  The words must be published.

DEFENCES
Kinds of Nuisance:
Nuisance is of two kinds:
• Public or Common Nuisance
• Private Nuisance or Tort of Nuisance
Justification or truth Fair Comment Privilege

Damages in Nuisance:
In an action for nuisance, actual damage is required to be proved.
In the case of public nuisance, the plaintiff can bring an action
in tort only when he proves a special damage to him. In private
nuisance, although damage is one of the essentials, the law will
often presume it.
 STRICT LIABILITY AND ABSOLUTE LIABILITY:

Strict Liability: Absolute Liability:

The concept has originated from the case of Rylands v. Decision of the Supreme Court of India in M. C. Mehta v. Union
Fletcher. We may observe that the following are the three of India (Oleum Gas Leakage Case) is innovative in the sense
requirements for application of rule in Rylands v. Fletcher, that it gave rise to a new kind of liability called ‘absolute
1. Something dangerous must be brought, collected and liability’. Absolute liability is strict liability without [Link]
kept on the land. held that the rule in Ryland’s case decided in the nineteenth
2. It must be non-natural use of land. century is inadequate to meet the needs of the modern scientific
3. The thing must escape. world with hazardous and dangerous activities being common.

Act of God
LEGAL REMEDIES:
Act of third party
EXCEPTIONS

Plaintiff's consent
Legal remedies

Common benefit of plaintiff and defendant

Specific Restitution
Damages Injunction
Plaintiff's own default of property

Statutory Authority
 TRESPASS: BATTERY:

 Trespass is the direct interference with another person or his

property, which infringes the person’s right to enjoyment of his
land, possession of his goods or freedom of movement.
 The use of force on the person of another without lawful
 Trespass to land occurs where a person directly enters upon
justification.
another’s land without permission, or remains upon the land, or
 Battery consists of touching another person hostilely or against
places or projects any objection upon the land.
his will directly or indirectly, however, slightly.
 Trespass is both a civil and criminal wrong because it can cause
injury , i.e. violation of legal rights as well as damage to one’s
person and property sustainably if a physical attack takes place.

ASSAULT: FALSE IMPRISONMENT:

 Generally, a person commits criminal assault if he purposely,

knowingly, or recklessly inflicts bodily injury upon another, if he  When someone’s way is restricted unlawfully from all possible
negligently inflicts bodily injury upon another by means of directions so as to prevent him/her from moving in a direction for
dangerous weapon; or if through physical menace, he places some period, however short, it is called false imprisonment.
another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury. unreasonable
fear.

REMEDIES

Damages Injunction Expulsion Re-entry Self help