Civil wrong

{{Short description|Cause of action in civil (non-criminal) law}}

{{Distinguish|Civil offence|Municipal offense}}

A civil wrong or wrong is a cause of action under civil law. Types include tort, breach of contract and breach of trust.{{harvp|Williams|1982|pp=9–10.}}

Something that amounts to a civil wrong is wrongful. A wrong involves the violation of a right because wrong and right are contrasting terms.{{harvp|Clerk|1989|loc=para. 1–14 at p. 12.}} An 1860 legal ruling stated that: "It is essential to an action in tort that the act complained of should under the circumstances be legally wrongful as regards the party complaining; that is, it must prejudicially affect him in some legal right".Rogers v Rajendro Dutt (1860) 13 Moo P C 209, 9 WR 149, 15 ER 78, quoted in House of Lords, [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd060329/watkin-1.htm Watkins (Respondent) v. Home Office (Appellants) and others], [2006] UKHL 17.

The law that relates to civil wrongs is part of the branch of the law that is called the civil law.{{harvp|Williams|1982|p=2.}} A civil wrong can be followed by civil proceedings.{{harvp|Williams|1982|p=3.}} It is a misnomer to describe a civil wrong as a "civil offence".{{harvp|Williams|1982|p=4.}} The law of England recognised the concept of a wrong before it recognised the distinction between civil wrongs and crimes in the 13th century.{{harvp|Phillips|1960|pp=207, 208, 213.}}