⇒ Torts intended to ‘signal’ appropriate norms of conduct

⇒ Enforcement is a matter for the person wronged, not the state

• In tort we see ‘bargaining in the shadow of the law’ i.e. the wronged person can approach the wrongdoer and make their own agreement as to how the infringement should be addressed

⇒ In tort a monetary sum is given to compensate the claimant (to put the claimant in the position he/she would have been in if the wrong had not been done) for injury

⇒ Loss or damage: it is typical that a claimant will be seeking compensation for loss/damage of some kind

⇒ Causation: there must be a causal relationship between the wrongdoing by the defendant and the loss to the claimant

⇒ Responsibility: the defendant usually must have been at fault (Exception: strict liability)

⇒ Tort typically involves two parties, a defendant and a claimant

⇒ Causation of loss joins the defendant and the claimant in a way that other parties are not joined i.e. the 2 parties in an action are "locked in a normative reciprocal embrace" (Weinnrib)

⇒ Compensation/reparation: this is to put the claimant in the position he/she would have been in had the tort not happened

⇒ Appeasement: the law acts so people do not have to take private vengeance

⇒ Justice: the offender should suffer an evil (pay compensation) for their wrongdoing

⇒ Detterence: tort law defers the defendant from doing the wrong again and deters other people in a like position

⇒ Note: some level of accidents are acceptable → physical risk cannot be completely