delict

delict

the name used for civil liability for wrongs in Roman law and in Scots law and in the law of most of the civilian legal systems, such as those of France, Germany and South Africa. It is a much more universal concept than torts but clearly much the same sort of issues are considered. Again, in civilian systems, delict is seen within the overall picture of the law of obligations. See ANIMAL LIABILITY, ECONOMIC LOSS, ECONOMIC TORTS, FAULT, NEGLIGENCE, NUISANCE, OCCUPIER'S LIABILITY, PRODUCT LIABILITY, STRICT LIABILITY, TORT, TRESPASS.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

DELICT, civil law. The act by which one person, by fraud or malignity, causes some damage or tort to some other. In its most enlarged sense, this term includes all kinds of crimes and misdemeanors, and even the injury which has been caused by another, either voluntarily or accidentally without evil intention; but more commonly by delicts are understood those small offences which are punished by a small fine or a short imprisonment.
     2. Delicts are either public or private; the public are those which affect the whole community by their hurtful consequences; the private is that which is directly injurious to a private individual. Inst. 4, 18; Id. 4, 1 Dig. 47, 1; Id. 48, 1.
     3. A quasi-delict, quasi delictum, is the act of a person, who without malignity, but by an inexcusable imprudence, causes an injury to another. Poth. Ob. n. 116; Ersk. Pr. Laws of Scotl. B. 4, t. 4, s. 1.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.