1.1 Historical Development, Definition, and Functions of Tort Law

The history's arc: the English writs' world (the trespass-and-case forms — the forms of action as the law's skeleton); the negligence's rise (the industrial era's child); the twentieth century's expansion (the duty's elaboration, the strict liability's pockets, the damages' growth); the modern era's counter-movement (the insurance-and-no-fault schemes, the damages' reform debates). The definition's struggle: "tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, for which the remedy is an action for unliquidated damages" — the standard definition (Winfield's contribution: the breach of a duty fixed by law). The functions (the exam's list): compensation (the victim's restoration — the primary function); deterrence (the wrong's pricing); justice (the corrective justice's intuition — the wrongdoer answers); loss distribution (the insurance-and-deep-pocket realities); and the behaviour's regulation (the standards' setting — the "tort law as regulator" view).