Tort in Europe

Definition of Tort

A wrong. “An infringement of a right in rem of a private individual, giving a right to compensation at the suit of the injured party ” (Fraser). Sir F. Pollock analyses a tort as an act which causes harm to a determinate person, whether intentionally or not, not being the breach of a duty arising out of a personal relation or contract, and which is either contrary to law, or an omission of a specific legal duty, or a violation of an absolute right. [1] For other definitions of Tort in the legal Dictionaries, see here.

For information on Tort under English law, see here. (link to Tort in the UK Legal Encyclopedia).

Tort in European Private Law

Tort is concerned with the comparative study of tort/delict within a European framework. The so-called Europeanisation of private law has two dimensions:

• One concerns the implications of existing legislation and case-law emanating from the organs of the EU for national private laws (eg product liability (Dir 85/374), environmental liability (Dir 2004/35), liability of the Member States and the non-contractual liability of the European Union).
• The other is of a scholarly nature, and relates to various academic proposals for common European rules and principles in the area of private law based on comparative research: the European Group on Tort Law and the Study Group on a European Civil Code have both independently from another introduced proposals for restatements of European tort law.

Notes

1. Definition of Tort is, temporally, from A Concise Law Dictionary (1927). This