Tort (Lat. tortus), in the law of England, includes all those wrongs, not arising out of contract, for which a remedy by compensation or damages is given in a court of law. Such are assault, false imprisonment (i.e. arrest or detention without legal justification), unlawful detention or conversion to one's own use of the goods of another, &c. Deceit also is a tort, if a person suffer damage by acting on an untrue statement made with the intention that he should act on it. The general rule of law was that the right of action for a tort died with the person who committed it; but this defect has been cured by statute to a certain extent. If the wrong was done within six months preceding the wrong-doer's death, an action may be brought against his executors within six months after they have assumed office. So if the injured party lived he could always bring an action of damages; but if he died his executors or relatives could not do so until Lord Campbell's Act enabled the wife, husband, parent, or child of such deceased injured party to sue for damages; and in such case the jury may apportion the damages between the widow and children who sue. The right to bring an action for a tort is limited to two, four, or six years respectively, according to the nature of the wrong. In Scotland there is no time limited for bringing the action. The law of the United States is founded on that of England.
See treatises on torts by Addison (1857; new ed. 1887), E. W. Ball (1884), M. M. Bigelow (3d ed. Boston, 1886), T. M. Cooley (2d ed. 1888), A. Underhill (5th ed. 1889), Clerk and Lindsell (1889), Sir F. Pollock (4th ed. 1895), and L. C. Innes (1891).