LAW OF TORT

DR ZUL ZAKIYUDDIN AHMAD RASHID

 ROLE OF LAW
• Law has to protect the rights of persons in society.
• Law does it primarily in two ways: by compensating for
the wrong suffered, and by punishing the wrong-doer.
• The compensation function is the business of tort
law (and partly of contract law) whereas punishment is
the domain of criminal law.
• By the process of identifying wrongs and compensating
them through the award of damages, tort law attempts
to allocate losses or distributive risks which are
inevitable in the modern society in a manner conducive
to justice, equity and fairness. 2
• Independent of criminal or contract law, Tort
law provides individuals and groups with
redress for injury to every dimension of
life from physical injury, to property damage,
to personal insult.

• The more industrialized the society the more

complicated the life. In such a situation, this
branch of law grows and assumes greater
importance in ordering just social relations. It
is rightly said that the progress of a
nation can be measured in terms of
development of law of tort in that country. 3
 A “tort”
is different than
a “crime”

4
 Crime

A “crime” is a wrong against society.

Criminal law procedures will be applied.

5
 Crime

Criminals are arrested by government

officials/police
Criminals are prosecuted by government
officials/ DPP
Criminals are punished by government
officials/jails
 Crime
In a criminal case:
The the criminal
government is the
is the plaintiff defendant

7
 Crime
Let’s say your neighbor dumps a 55-gallon drum of toxic chemicals on your
property.

8
 Crime

A crime against the environment is a crime against all of society, not just you.

9
 Crime
Let’s say the criminal is arrested for vandalism, prosecuted, found
guilty, goes to jail to “pay for his crime”, and finally gets out of jail.…

10
Who has to pay to clean up the mess on
your property?

11
A crime can also be a “tort”.

12
Although the criminal has “paid for his
crime to society” he hasn’t paid to clean
up the mess he made.

13
The person who has wronged you should be made
to put things back the way they were before he
did his wrong action.

14
 Civil Law (a.k.a. “tort” law)

A “tort” is an action that you can sue someone for.

15
 Civil Law (a.k.a. “tort” law)

A “tort” is an action that you can sue someone for.

A tort usually involves personal injury, (usually
either physical or financial).

16
 Civil Law (a.k.a. “tort” law)

Not only do I want the wrongdoer to be punished

by the government in the criminal justice system, I
want money for damages from the wrongdoer in
the civil justice system!

17
 Civil Law

the wronged
the wrongdoer
person
is the defendant
is the plaintiff

18
BRANCHES OF TORT LAW

There are other branches of tortious

liability, but these are among the most
related to construction industry…