Odger's English Common Law

PART I.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP CRIMINAL LAW.
Cjiaptkr I.
THE NATURE OF A CRIME.
Everyone, who violates the right of another or neglects
his own duty to the prejudice of another or of the State, does
wrong. Wrongful acts are either crimes, torts or breaches
of contract.
A crime is a wrongful act of such a kind that the State
deems it necessary, in the interests of the, public, to repress
it ; for its repetition would be harmful to the community as
a whole.
A tort is a wrongful act, independent of contract, which
gives the person injured a right to be compensated by the
wrong-doer for the injury done to him.
A breach of contract is the wrongful neglect or omission
by one party to a contact to perform his promise to the other
party, who is therefore entitled to be paid a debt or to
receive damages.
Torts and breaches of contract, it will be observed, do not
directly affect the community at large, but only the persons
individually concerned ; they create merely civil obligations.
In other words, the object of criminal proceedings is to
punish the offender and to prevent any repetition of the
offence ; the object of civil proceedings is to compensate the
person wronged by compelling the wrong-doer to make him
satisfaction.
An act, which injures an individual and entitles him to
compensation, may at the same time be such that its repetition
would be harmful to society and therefore such as the State