Unlawful act

Tort constitutes one of the most important doctrines of civil law. According to article 6:162 of the Civil Code, he who commits an unlawful act against another is obliged to pay the damages that the other person suffers as a result. In other words, if you act unlawfully, you must compensate your victim's damages. But, then a number of conditions must be met. Namely, in addition to unlawfulness, there must also be culpability, causality, relativity and - of course - damages. 

Unlawfulness

A tort is a violation of a right and an act or omission in violation of a legal duty or what is proper in society according to unwritten law. But if there is justification, then there is no tort. If you throw a flowerpot off a balcony and thereby cause bodily injury to someone, that constitutes a tort. You have infringed on the person's right to bodily integrity by causing them bodily injury. In addition, you also acted in violation of the law because assault is punishable by law. 

Attributability

The tort must then be attributable to the perpetrator. This is the case if the act is due to the fault of the perpetrator or should be attributable to the perpetrator according to law or common sense. In the case of the flower pot, it is easily attributable to your fault, even if you did not do it on purpose. 

Causality

Furthermore, the damages must be the result of the tort. There must be a causal connection between the tort and the injury. In the case of the flower pot, a causal connection between the tort and the personal injury can be assumed fairly easily. This becomes more difficult if, for example, the victim is also hit on the street corner. What part of the injury was caused by the thrown flower pot? 

Relativity

Furthermore, the violated standard must have served to prevent the damage. In practice, this condition will often be met quickly. This is not the case if, for example, a party wishes to hold a competitor liable in tort by invoking a violated licensing requirement. If that licensing duty was instituted to protect consumers, the violated standard does not serve to protect the first party's competitive position.  

Damage

Without damages, there is no duty to compensate. This requirement is met if it can be shown that property damage or intangible damage was suffered by the victim. Personal injury caused by a flower pot on your head involves property damage. Lost profits also fall under damages. In the flowerpot example, any period of incapacity for work and the resulting lost income counts as lost profits. 

Conclusion

Unlawful act is one of the most common grounds of an action for compensation. Because there are many conditions associated with it, there is also a multi-level defense to such a claim. This is often overlooked, resulting in missed opportunities. The liability lawyer at Lexys Lawyers can tell you more about claiming damages or defending against a tort claim.