An Overview of Tort Law

• Author: Eric E. Johnson
• Pages: 35-46

35

2. An Overview of Tort Law

Now that you understand the fundamentals of causes of action,

elements, and affirmative defenses, we can start to sketch an

overview of the subject of tort law.

Before delving into the details of particular tort causes of action, it is

extremely helpful to take the time to learn the broad outlines of the

entire subject matter. Why? Having a framework of any subject

makes it easier for you understand and absorb details. Moreover,

when it comes to torts, you will find that there are many points of

connection among disparate aspects of the subject matter. For

instance, an aspect of negligence doctrine – called res ipsa loquitor –

is similar in important ways to the cause of action for strict liability. If

you take the time at the outset to study the overview, you will be able

to understand these linkages much more readily when they come up

later on.

As a common-law subject, torts has no official organization scheme.

It exists as a disconnected mass of judicial opinions spanning a

multitude of jurisdictions. The opinions are put into reporter

volumes in chronological order – not grouped by topic. In fact, you

would have a hard time grouping cases by topic if you tried, because

any given case often deals with multiple topics.

Yet to tackle the subject of torts methodically, it is necessary to adopt

some organizational scheme. There is some unavoidable artificiality

in doing this, but imposing some form of order is needed to make

the subject comprehensible to the uninitiated.

The most straightforward way to organize the study of torts seems to

be to group together causes of action, and then explore one cause of

action at a time, running through the elements and relevant defenses

for each. That is how this book is organized. Unfortunately, some

topics do not fit into this structure, since they are relevant to all or

many tort causes of action. Such topics include immunities, remedies,

special issues regarding who can sue, and generically applicable