Here, the word “wrongful” implies a violation of "one person's legal duty to another.1 Every tort shares three elements :
1. A legal duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff .
2. a breach of that duty i 3. damage caused to the plaintiff as a result.
The purpose of tort litigation is to require a wrongdoer or the party at fault to. compensate a victim for the injury incurred (compensatory damages). Compensatory damages in a typical tort case usually include: 1. medical expenses,
2. lost income from earnings,
3. property damages,
4. pain and suffering, and 5. loss of life or limb. These losses include those actually sustained in the past and those estimated in the future.
There is also another kind of damages called punitive damages, or exemplary damages ,which are awarded to punish defendants for committing intentional torts and for negligent behavior considered “gross” or “willful and wantonw.1 For an award of punitive damages9 the defendant’s motive must be “malicious”, afraudulentw, or “evil”. Increasingly 9 punitive damages are also awarded for dangerously negligent conduct that shows a conscious disregard for the interests of others. These damages are used to deter future wrongdoing.

Torts as private wrongs must be contrasted with crimes, although the same act may be both a tort and a crime. A crime is an offense against society as a whole. The state acts as society’s representative in criminal proceedings and prosecutes criminals. The purpose of criminal proceedings is to protect the public and satisfy its sense of justice by punishing wrongdoers. In contrast, a tort is a civil action brought by the injured party. Its primary purpose is to protect an individual’s interests by compensating him at the. wrongdoerexpense.

A tort is also different from a breach of contract. People who voluntarily enter into contracts with each other create mutual obligations. Breach of contract cases involves these essentially self-imposed duties, while torts involve obligations that are involuntarily imposed by the law itself.

Torts may be classified according to the gravity of the fault of the wrongdoer.5 By this way of classification• there are three types of torts: intentional torts，torts of negligence and strict liability torts/ Intentional torts are those wrongs in which the persons charged must have acted in such a manner that they either wanted to、harm someone or knew that what they did would result in harm. Negligence is the unintentional causing of harm that could have been prevented if the defendant had acted as a reasonable and prudent person. Strict liability tort is a new area of tort law. It assigns liability regardless of fault as a matter of social policy.

Answer the following questions:
1. What is a tort? And what is the purpose of a tort action?
2. What are the elements of a tort?
3. What are the main differences between torts and crimes? What are the similarities? Give an illustration where one act gives rise to both a tort and a crime.
4. What are the main differences between a tort and a breach of contract?
5. Name as many types of torts as you can and define each of them.
6. What is the purpose of tort litigation?
7. Wh»t do compensatory damages in the typical tort case usually include?
8. Co.夕are compensatory damages with punitive damages.
9. When are punitive damages usually awarded?
10. Explain strict liability.