Law

=== Torts and delicts ===
{{main|Delict|Tort}}Certain [[civil wrong]]s are grouped together as [[tort]]s under common law systems and [[delict]]s under civil law systems.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=R. W. |title=Torts and Delicts |journal=Yale Law Journal |date=April 1918 |volume=27 |issue=6 |pages=721–730 |url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylj/vol27/iss6/1 |access-date=1 January 2020 |issn=0044-0094 |doi=10.2307/786478 |jstor=786478 |archive-date=1 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101082254/https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylj/vol27/iss6/1/ |url-status=live }}</ref> To have acted tortiously, one must have breached a duty to another person, or infringed some pre-existing legal right. A simple example might be unintentionally hitting someone with a ball.<ref>''Bolton v Stone'' [1951] AC 850</ref> Under the law of [[negligence]], the most common form of tort, the injured party could potentially claim compensation for their injuries from the party responsible. The principles of negligence are illustrated by ''[[Donoghue v Stevenson]]''.{{efn|name=DvS|''[[Donoghue v Stevenson]]'' ([[Case citation#England and Wales|[1932] A.C. 532, 1932 S.C. (H.L.) 31, [1932] All ER Rep 1]]). See the original text of the case in [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/donoghue.htm UK Law Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216044953/http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/donoghue.htm |date=16 February 2007 }}.}} A friend of Donoghue ordered an opaque bottle of [[ginger beer]] (intended for the consumption of Donoghue) in a café in [[Paisley, Renfrewshire|Paisley]]. Having consumed half of it, Donoghue poured the remainder into a tumbler. The decomposing remains of a snail floated out. She claimed to have suffered from shock, fell ill with gastroenteritis and sued the manufacturer for carelessly allowing the drink to be contaminated. The [[House of Lords]] decided that the manufacturer was liable for Mrs Donoghue's illness. [[Lord Atkin]] took a distinctly moral approach and said:
<blockquote>The liability for negligence [...] is no doubt based upon a general public sentiment of moral wrongdoing for which the offender must pay. [...] The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the [[lawyer]]'s question, Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour.<ref>''[[Donoghue v Stevenson]]'' [1932] AC 532, 580</ref></blockquote>

This became the basis for the four principles of negligence, namely that:

# Stevenson owed Donoghue a [[duty of care]] to provide safe drinks; 
# he [[Breach of duty in English law|breached]] his duty of care;
# the harm would not have occurred [[Causation (law)|but for]] his breach; and 
# his act was the [[proximate cause]] of her harm.{{efn|name="DvS"}}

Another example of tort might be a neighbour making excessively loud noises with machinery on his property.<ref name="Sturges">''[[Sturges v Bridgman]]'' (1879) 11 Ch D 852</ref> Under a [[nuisance]] claim the noise could be stopped. Torts can also involve intentional acts such as [[Assault (tort)|assault]], [[Battery (tort)|battery]] or [[trespass]]. A better known tort is [[slander and libel|defamation]], which occurs, for example, when a newspaper makes unsupportable allegations that damage a politician's reputation.<ref>e.g. concerning a British politician and the Iraq War, ''[[George Galloway#Daily Telegraph libel case|George Galloway v Telegraph Group Ltd]]'' [2004] EWHC 2786</ref> More infamous are economic torts, which form the basis of [[labour law]] in some countries by making trade unions liable for strikes,<ref>''[[Taff Vale Railway Co v Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants]]'' [1901] AC 426</ref> when statute does not provide immunity.{{efn|In the UK, [[Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992]]; c.f. in the U.S., [[National Labor Relations Act]]}}