Torts and damages

Book of De Leon

Chapter 1: Introduction

Meaning of tort and tortious act

 Tort – A common law expression. French for wrong. “tortus” from latin
meaning twisted.
 Tort is a legal wrong that causes harm for which the violator is subject to civil
liability.
 Tortious act is a wrongful act. It has been defined as the commission or
omission of an act done by one, without right, whereby another receives
some injury, directly or indirectly, in person, property, or reputation.

Essence of tort.

(1) Defendant’s potential for civil liability – the essence of tort is the defendant’s
potential for civil liability to the victim for harmful wrongdoing and correspondingly
the victim’s potential for compensation or other relief.

(2) Existence of physical harms, not essential. – Some torts cause no physical
harms at all but are nonetheless actionable.

(3) Variations of torts – Many other torts can be describes or named, and in fact
courts are free to recognize variations and even to recognize “new torts” at any time.

Definitions of tort.

1. A tort is a wrong independent of contract, or a breach of duty which the law, as

distinguished from a mere contract, has imposed. It is a violation of a private legal
right other than a mere breach of contract, express or implied for which a civil
action may be maintained.

2. A tort is a legal concept possessing the basic elements of a wrong with resultant
injury and consequential damage which is cognizable in a court of law.

3. A tort consists in a violation of a duty imposed by general law or otherwise upon

all persons occupying the relation to each other, which is involved in a given
transaction.

4. A tort is an act or omission violative of a private right existing in one or more

persons, whether natural or artificial, which right does not depend directly on the
assent of the person or persons owing the relative duty, which directly results in
damage to him or them having the right and for which the law undertakes to give an
appropriate private remedy to the injured person against the wrongdoer.

5. A tort is the unlawful violation of a private legal right, other than a mere breach of
contract, express or implied; or, it may be the violation of a public duty, by reason of
which some special damage accrues to the individual.

6. A tort consists in the violation of a right given or the omission of a duty imposed
by law. (Naguiat vs. NLRC) Under the definition in Naguiat, the term “tort”, used by
the Supreme Court in a number of cases involving quasi-delicts, has the same
meaning as tort in common law jurisdictions.

The fundamental concept of a tort is a wrongful act or omission resulting in breach

of a private legal duty (as distinguished from a mere breach of contractual duty) and
damage from said breach of duty of such a character as to afford a right of redress at
law in favor of the injured party.

Kinds of wrong

1. Wrong is civil when it involves a violation of private legal right. A wrong is

criminal when it is regarded as an offense against the public and penalized by law as
a crime or felony

2. Intentional if the defendant is consciously aware that his conduct is wrongful, or

negligent if the defendant does not intend an invasion of plaintiff’s right but is aware
that by his behavior, he is taking unreasonable risks.

3. Sometimes courts recognize a third category, placed between intentional and

negligent wrongs – reckless, gross or wanton wrong. It is a species of negligence
which imports knowledge and consciousness of the high risk of harm resulting from
his conduct as to be equivalent to an intentional wrong.

History of Tort as a legal concept

1. Common law tort – tort law is predominantly common law, that is, judges rather
than legislatures usually define what counts as a tort and how compensation is to be
measured

2. No clear distinction between tort and crime – a development of anything like a

clearly formulated conception of a tort is comparatively recent.

3. Notion of tort as a specific wrong. – the notion of tort, in a distinct and integral
sense, still remained unformulated and the history of tort is to be sought in the
history of the various delictual actions which, in conjunction, made up the whole
sum of then recognized civil liability for wrongs.
4. Place of torts in Philippine law. – Well developed in the common law of England
and America. But it has not received similar attention in the civil law

Two general classes of torts

1) Property torts - they embrace all injuries and damages to property, whether
realty or personalty, and

2) Personal torts- they include all injuries to the person, whether the body,
reputation, or feelings. A tort which is not an injury to property is a personal tort

“personal injury” denotes primarily an injury to the body of a person, and a personal
injury, whether administered intentionally, wantonly or by negligence, constitutes a
tort. It may embrace all actionable injuries to the individual himself as distinguished
from injuries to his property. Thus personal injury may denote an injury affecting
the reputation, character, conduct, and habits of a person.

* fields of tort and contract distinct

- contract duties are created by the promises of the parties, Province is
agreements or promises
- tort duties are imposed as rules of law. Province of torts is wrongs