Every day in Ontario people suffer harm as a result of the activities of other people or businesses or governments. The harm is often to their person or to their physical property. The law of torts determines when a person or corporation who causes harm, the “tortfeasor,” must pay compensation to the person who suffers it. The word “tort” is derived from the French word meaning “wrong.” The law of torts is the law of wrongdoings.
The nature of the tortfeasor’s conduct is an essential element of the law. The conduct must be intentional or negligent to establish liability. Conduct is intentional when a person intends the consequences of that person’s actions. Intentional infliction of mental suffering is an example. Conduct is negligent when a person allows a situation where there is a reasonable foreseeability of the risk of harm to another person. A slip and fall caused by icy steps is an example. There are also a few torts where liability extends to innocent or accidental conduct, the torts of strict liability.
Tort law does not compensate a person for all losses resulting from the conduct of another person. The nature and breadth of the losses are scrutinized to determine what are compensable damages and what are not compensable to that person. The remoteness of the loss flowing from the specific wrongdoing is often the test to restrict an award of damages. Quantifying damages is sometimes difficult. Personal injury losses are more easily quantifiable than defamation of a person’s reputation.
Tort law, therefore, is inherently moralistic because it demands that a person be responsible and accountable to another person for the consequences of that person’s wrongful actions.