Law of Torts
What Are The Kinds
Of Tort?
Tort:
A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a civil wrong. Tort law deals with
situations where a person's behaviour has unfairly caused someone else to
suffer loss or harm. A tort is not necessarily an illegal act but causes harm
and therefore the law allows anyone who is harmed to recover their loss. Tort
law is different from criminal law, which deals with situations where a person's actions cause harm to
society in general. A claim in tort may be brought by anyone who has suffered
loss. Criminal cases tend to be brought by the state, although private prosecutions are possible.
Tort
law is also differentiated from equity, in
which a petitioner complains of a violation of some right. One who commits a tortuous
act is called a tortfeasor. Tort may be defined as a
personal injury; or as "a civil action other than a breach of
contract."
Kinds of Torts:
|
Malfeasance
|
|
Non-feasance
|
|
Mis-feasance
|
|
Foreign Torts
|
|
Felonious Torts
|
|
Kinds of Torts
|
|
Tort Actionable Per Se
|
|
Tort Non-actionable Per Se
|
|
In Itself
|
|
Which are
actionable only on proof of actual damage?
|
1.
Malfeasance:
Malfeasance is the
commissions of an unlawful act for example, trespass, fraud, defamation.
2.
Misfeasance:
Misfeasance is the
improper performance of some law full acts for example, negligence of the
surgeon in operation although the operation was conducted without any fee even
then negligence of surgeon is a tortuous act.
3. Nonfeasance:
Nonfeasance means failing
to perform an obligatory act, for example, a duty bound servant in hospital for
patient’s food, if he failed to perform his duty that is a tortious act.
4. Actionable Per Se:
The defendant is held
liable merely because he does a particular act, even though the plaintiff has
suffered not the slightest harm. The act of trespassing on another’s land is
actionable even thought the plaintiff has suffered not the slightest harm,
liable is also an actionable per se tort.
5. Non-Actionable Per Se:
The defendant is held only
if, in consequences of his act, damages are inflicted on the plaintiff. Thus,
slander is, in most cases, not actionable without proof of special damage.
6. Foreign Torts:
A foreign tort means a
tort which is committed aboard, i.e. a tort the cause of action regarding which
has arisen abroad. Such tort may be:
a. Torts to Realty:
Where a tort is committed with respect to immovable
property in a foreign country, no action can be maintained in England thought
the wrong-doer is a British subject resident in Britain.
b. Personal Torts:
Where, however, the tort is once committed with respect
to movable property or against the person of the plaintiff, an action is
maintainable provided the two following conditions are fulfilled.
i.
The
act complained of must be unlawful in the place where it was committed. No
action will lie in respect of an act which though tortuous of committed in
England is lawful in the country of its commission.
Illustration:
A
filed a suit against the governor of Jamaica for false imprisonment. The
governor pleaded that the arrest was made in connection with the suppression of
a rebellion and that he was so authorized by an act of the Jamaica legislature.
Held that the plaintiff could not succeeding.
ii.
The
second condition is that the act complained of must be such a character that it
would have been actionable if committed in England.
7. Felonious Tort:
That the same wrongful
act may sometimes constitute both a tort and a crime e.g. assault, defamation,
malicious prosecution, etc. Assault is a civil wrong, a tort, when looked at
from the point of view of an individual, it being a violation of the right of
every person to his personal safety being preserved unmolested. But at the same
time such an act of violence is looked upon as a menace to the safety of
society in general. It will, therefore, be punished by the state as crim. In
all such cases there are two different kinds of remedies-civil & criminal.
Where an act is both a tort and a felony, it is called a felonious tort.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is vicarious
liability?
Introduction:
Vicarious liability means
liability which is incurred for or instead of another. Generally every person
is responsible for his own acts. But there are circumstances where liability
attaches to him for the wrongs committed by others. The most common instances
are the liability of the master for wrongs committed by his servant. In these
cases liability is joint as well as several. The wrong-doer himself is liable
being a servant or an agent, as much as his principal. It is therefore quite
correct to say. “In general a person is responsible only for his own acts, but
there are exceptional cases in which the law imposes on him vicarious
responsibility for the acts of other, however blameless himself.”
Ways of Vicarious Liability:
1. Liability By Ratification:
Where the defendant has
authorised or ratified the particular wrongful act or omission.
QUI
FACIT PER ALIUM FACIT PER SE:
A person who authorizes
or procures a tort to be committed by another is responsible for that tort as
if he had committed it himself. In such a case the person authorizing is liable
not only for the tort actually authorized but also for its direct consequences.
Condition of Ratification:
1. Only such act binds a
principal by subsequent ratification as were done at the time on his himself.
What is done by a person on his own account cannot be effectually adopted by
another.
2. The person ratifying the
act must have full knowledge of its tortuous character.
3. An act which is illegal
and void cannot be ratified.
Illustration:
An act done for B by A
not for A himself but for B though without the authority of B becomes the act
of the principal B if subsequently ratified by B. If one person commits a tort
assuming to act on behalf of another but without his authority and that other
subsequently ratifies and assents to that act, he thereby becomes responsible
for it.
2. Liability By Arising Out Of Special
Relationship:
It may be noted that
“Normally and naturally the person who is liable for a wrong is he who does the
wrong” vicarious liability may arise where the doer of act and the person
sought to be held liable therefore are related to each other as
|
Principal & Agent
|
|
Owner &
Independent Contractor
|
|
Master &
Servant
|
|
Guardian
& Ward
|
|
Firm
& Its Partners
|
|
Company
& Director
|
|
Master to 3rd
Person
|
|
Servant
to 3rd Person
|
|
Master
to Servant
|
|
Servant
to Master
|
|
Liability by
Special Relationship
|
3. Liability by Abetment:
In actions of tort those
who abet the tortuous acts one as much liable as the tort-feasors themselves.
Conclusion/Crux:
A man is liable only for
his own acts but there are certain circumstances in which liability attach to
him for the wrong committed by others. The liability of a person may arise in three
ways under law of torts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment