Magnus, Ulrich --- "Tort law in general*" [2012] ELECD 1033; in Smits, M. Jan (ed), "Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Second Edition" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012) 873

Book Title: Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Second Edition

Editor(s): Smits, M. Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849804158

Section: Chapter 71

Section Title: Tort law in general*

Author(s): Magnus, Ulrich

Number of pages: 13

Abstract/Description:

Every legal system knows of tort law as a substantial part of its law. Even countries like New Zealand, which have almost entirely abandoned tort law with respect to personal injury cases and have replaced it with a social insurance scheme, still retain it for cases of damage to property and economic interests (cf. Todd and Hughes, 2009, pp. 62ff.). Tort law is therefore an indispensable part of law; it is that branch of law which provides remedies for civil wrongs, in particular where one party has caused damage to the other. But, unlike contractual liability, tort liability arises irrespectively of any prior agreement between the parties that the damage should be made good; liability in tort does not depend on whether the tortfeasor has – by the prior conclusion of a contract – agreed to its sanctions (see von Bar, 1999, 2001, vol. 1). Tort law fixes general duties which bind every member of a society and whose breach obliges in any event (see, for more or less identical definitions, Kötz and Wagner, 2010; Winfield and Jolowicz, 2010, p. 4; generally also Englard, 1993).