1.5 Distinction between Tort, Crime and Contractual Breaches

The three-way table (the exam's favourite): | Face | Tort | Crime | Contract | |---|---|---|---| | Duty's source | Law (fixed by courts) | Law (public) | Agreement | | Parties | Victim vs wrongdoer | State vs accused | Parties | | Purpose | Compensation | Punishment | Performance's enforcement | | Remedy | Unliquidated damages | Punishment | Damages (liquidated rule) / specific performance | | Consent's role | No bar as such (the consent defence's limits) | Not a bar | The obligation's source | The overlaps: the same act's triple life (the assault-and-battery as crime + tort + no contract); the concurrent liability's rules (the contract-tort boundary cases — the "the duty in contract" debates).