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→Introduction to claims under the law of torts
Tort claims for family violence can overlap with family law issues. They can be the subject of a lawsuit on their own, or they can be combined with a lawsuit brought under the ''Divorce Act'' or the ''Family Law Act''. While the ''Divorce Act'' or the ''Family Law Act'' do talk about family violence, in the context of children's parenting arrangements, protection orders and conduct orders, neither act provides financial compensation for the effects family violence. That is what tort claims are for.
==Introduction to claims under the law of torts==
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 anothersomeone else, 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. However, not all 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, 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 reasonAs a result, tort claims are not based on governed by legislation, unlike specific the way family law claims in are governed by the ''Family Law Act'' or , ''Divorce Act''and the Child Support Guidelines, or the crime laws of way the criminal law is governed by 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. STOPPED HERE
Tort claims are commonly brought in ''civil proceedings'' rather than ''family law proceedings'', but they can be brought in a family law case too. If a claim for ''assault and battery'' is made in a family law claim, a judge will treat it as a ''tort law'' claim and apply common law principles and rules to the family case.
===Damages===
Tort claims differ from criminal charges. A court can't punish someone with jail or a criminal record just because they committed a tort. A successful tort claim results in an order that financial compensation, or ''damages'', be paid to the victim. The precise dollar value of these damages is based on the concept that every injury or harm, and every consequence suffered by the victim, has a dollar value. Some damages are easier for a court to calculate based on the evidence of direct financial loss to the victim. Examples include damages for lost wages or medical expenses. These direct financial losses are called ''pecuniary damages''. Other damages, such as pain and suffering, are more difficult to measure because they are more subjective or intangible. These are called ''general damages'', or ''non-pecuniary damages'', and the courts tend to look to past cases with similar facts in order to calculate a dollar value.