B. The word “tort” comes from the latin term “tortus”, which
means “twisted”. From there it came to mean “wrong”, as the
word continues to be used in French. In English, the word “tort”
is only used as a technical term by lawyers. The law of tort is the
law that deals with (1) wrongs. Some
law textbooks describe the law of tort as “the law of wrongs”.
What is the (2) of this area of law?
Many lawyers describe this as the most disorganised area of law.
It has even been described as “the dustbin of law”, meaning that
it is the place where all of the problems that other areas of law
cannot deal with will eventually arrive.
However, the principal purpose of the law of tort is to provide
a remedy to those who have been wronged by others. Some of
these wrongs might be covered by (3)
law or by (4) law as well as by the law
of tort, but some might not be.
However, people are not (5) for
wrongs to others in every situation in life. Let’s say that person
A harms person В in some way. Is person В (6)
to what lawyers call “redress”? It is certainly not automatic that
person В can make a (7) against person A according to the law of tort. It depends on the type of
harm that has been (8) and under what
circumstances. The law of tort is (9)
upon principles that have developed over many years. These
principles explain what lawyers refer to as “tortious liability”.
This is where one person or organisation has a duty in the eyes
of the law not to harm another in any way. This duty is called
a duty of (10) . To make a successful
(11) against someone according to the
law of tort, you must first of all establish that:
• the person who has harmed you owed a duty of care to
you, and
• the duty of care was (12) .
In some cases you also need to provide the court with proof of
harm, but in other cases just proving that the duty of care was
breached is enough. The main objective of the law of tort is not to punish the wrongdoer, but to (13) the injured party. This
compensation usually takes the form of a payment of money that
is referred to as (14) . Let’s say that person A is driving dangerously and causes (15)
to person В by crashing into his car. In this example, person A
has an automatic (16) not to harm anyone in this way and that duty has been breached. A court might
(17) damages to cover the cost of buying a new car.
