Tort vs Crime
A crime is an illegal act which may result in prosecution and punishment by the state if the accused (the person or people charged with a crime) is / are convicted (found guilty in a court of law). Generally, in order to be convicted of a crime, the accused must be shown to have committed an illegal (unlawful) act with a criminal state of mind.
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A tort is a civil wrong or wrongful act, whether intentional or accidental, from which injury occurs to another. Torts include all negligence cases as well as intentional wrongs which result in harm.
There are several heads of tort in English law. The most important are:
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- Negligence;
- Trespass to land;
- Nuisance;
- Trespass to the person;
- Defamation.
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Lawyers usually devide these heads into two categories:
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- torts that cause harm to people, and
- torts that cause harm to land.
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