Faculty of law
Torts and other legal wrongs
Lecture two
What about previous lecture?
• Quick review
• examples
• Questions???
Torts and crimes
• Similarities
- they involve the wrongdoer
- a car accident (example)
- assault
- libel
- theft
Torts and Crimes
• Infringement of private right
• Wrongdoer has to pay
damage
• Instituted by injured party
• Intention is subordinate
importance
• Private wrong
• Breach of public right
• Criminal punished by the
state/ fine goes G. treasury
• Proceedings are conducted
by prosecution/ by the state
• Intention is main factor
• Public wrong
Contract
• it is a voluntary agreement between two
parties, which creates duties from each to
other.
• buy a car (example: breach of contract)
• Wall builder (similarity example)
- specific standards
- negligence.
Torts and contracts
• Torts
Breach of Contracts
• Duty fixed by law
• Towards every person
• It is committed without
consent
• Infants are generally liable
• In an action for tort no
privacy needed
• Motive is often taken into
consideration
• Damages are different
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Duty is fixed by parties
Towards specific persons
Based on consent of the parties
Infants are not generally liable
Privacy of the parties must be
proved
• Motive is not relevant
• Compensation for pecuniary loss
suffered
Quasi-contract
• if a person is unjustly enriched, he must return
it to the rightful owner.
• A tradesman’s goods (example)
- mistake
Torts and quasi-contracts
• Torts
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• Breach of quasicontracts
Damages and other
• Only money
remedies
• Liquidated sum of
Unliquidated
money
damages
• Towards particular
Duty is general
person/s
Breach primary duty
• There is no primary
duty
The two Maxims
• Injuria sine Damno
• Damno sine injuria
‘injuria’ means infringement of a legally
protected interest
‘sine’ means without.
‘damno’ means actual physical loss whether
in terms of money, comfort, health, service or
the like.
Injuria sine damno (or damnum)
• This maxim means infringement of private
legal right without damage or loss.
• In other words, whenever there is an
infringement of a private legal right, the
person in whom the legal right is vested is
entitled to bring an action and may recover
damages, although he has suffered no actual
loss or harm.
• The returning office and the voter
Damnum sine injuria
• This maxim means ‘that no action will lie if
there is actual loss or damage but there has
been no infringement of legal right”
• The rival school