Odger's English Common Law

Chapter II.
TORTS GENERALLY.
Every wrongful act, whether criminal or not, which
entitles the person injured by it to sue for compensation, is
as we have seen a tort. A breach of contract, though in a
sense wrongful, is not deemed in law a tort, although it is a
tort for one man knowingly and without lawful justification
to induce another to break his contract with a third person.
And there are a few cases in which a person who is no
party to a contract may bring an action of tort to recover
compensation for the negligent performance of that contract,
if it was entered into with reference to himself. 1 But as a
rule a tort is " a wrong independent of contract." 2
From the above definition of a tort it follows that the same
act may be both a tort and a crime. Most criminal offences
against either the property or the person of a private indi-
vidual are also torts. Every defamatory libel is both a tort
and a crime. On the other hand, there are many crimes
which are not torts, and many torts which are not crimes.
To forge a cheque is a crime ; but if the forgery is detected
and no money is obtained by means of it, no action of tort
will lie. Suicide is a crime, but not a tort. Slander, on the
other hand, is a tort but not a crime. A breach of contract
can very seldom be a crime. 3
Where an act is both a tort and a crime, the person injured
has a civil remedy as well as a criminal one. If the wrongful
act is a misdemeanour, he may pursue his civil remedy or
not when and as he thinks fit, and whether the State prose-
cutes the offender or not. But if the wrongful act is a felony
as well as a tort, the person injured by it must wait and let
the State take action first, if it wishes. He has a cause of
1 See post, p. 431.
2 Common Law Procedure Act, 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 76), Schedule B.
3 But see the Gasworks Clauses Act, 1871 (31 & 35 Vict. c. 41), s. 36, and ante,
. 106.