The Tort

A tort is an injury caused by one person not respecting the right of another person. It is essentially a violation of a law but isn't a crime. Basically, if you do something that isn't punished by criminal law but that thing you did harms another person or damages his property, you can still be hit by a tort case. A legal act that can't be punished as a crime can still be punished under the Civil Code.

There are three (3) kinds of violations under the law:

1.) Culpa Criminal -criminal violations/delicts

2.) Culpa Contractual -contract violations

3.) Culpa Aquiliana -quasi-delicts

The Civil Law covers nos. 2 and 3. And they complement each other. The general consensus among legal experts is that although contracts and torts aren't the same, they influence each other.

Torts are generally classified as personal or property torts. Property torts cover property (obviously.) Personal torts, on the other hand, don't only cover bodily injury; they cover hurt feelings and damaged reputation as well.

Some smart-alec kid in the undergrad once bragged to me that he mastered Obligations and Contracts, thought he could sell a thing to somebody but get rid of the thing before he had it delivered and say he lost it and could keep the money. He didn't know that losing a commodity that was to be delivered to the buyer could still be punished -and he wouldn't even listen.