The word "tort" comes from the Latin word for "wrong" or "injustice." ''Tort law'' covers things like personal injuries, motor vehicle accidents, negligence, assault and battery, trespass, and more. A tort is a breach of a duty someone owes to another, such as a duty not to hit someone, a duty to drive carefully, or a duty not to dig a hole someone might fall into. Not However, not all harmful actions that cause harm are torts. It's crucial to talk with a lawyer to see if harm done to you is a tort.

Most tort claims come from the ''common law'', which means the vast majority of them developed over the course of decades, or and even centuries, as courts have recognized the need for new kinds of legal claims to address different problems in society. STOPPED HERE For this reason, tort claims are not based on legislation, unlike specific family law claims in the ''Family Law Act'' or ''Divorce Act'', or the crime laws of the ''[https://canlii.ca/t/7vf2 Criminal Code]''. That said, some torts are ''statutory torts'' that are written into legislation. One example is the claim for ''violation of privacy'' under the provincial ''Privacy Act'', which defines specifically what the tort of violation of privacy is.