Editing Delict (section)

{{Short description|Civil wrong}}
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'''Delict''' (from [[Latin language|Latin]] ''dēlictum'', [[past participle]] of ''dēlinquere'' ‘to be at fault, offend’) is a term in [[civil law (legal system)|civil]] and mixed law jurisdictions whose exact meaning varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but is always centered on the notion of wrongful conduct.

In [[Scots law|Scots]] and Roman Dutch law, it always refers to a [[tort]], which can be defined as a [[civil wrong]] consisting of an intentional or negligent breach of [[duty of care]] that inflicts loss or harm and which triggers [[legal liability]] for the wrongdoer. Other civil wrongs include [[breach of contract]] and [[Civil wrong|breach of trust]]. Liability is imposed on the basis of moral responsibility, i.e. a duty of care or to act, and fault (''culpa'') is the main element of liability. The term is similarly used in a handful of other English-speaking jurisdictions which derive their private law from French or Spanish law, such as [[Louisiana]] and the [[Philippines]], but ''[[tort]]'' is the equivalent legal term used in [[Common law (legal system)|common law]] jurisdictions and in general discussions of non-contractual liability.

In [[Law of Spain|Spanish law]], ''delito '' is any breach of [[criminal law]], i.e. a [[criminal offence]]. In [[Law of Italy|Italian law]], ''delitto penale'' is the same concept, but ''illecito civile extracontrattuale'' (or ''delitto civile''), like delict in [[Scots law]], is an intentional or [[Negligence|negligent]] act which gives rise to a [[legal obligation]] between parties even though there has been no [[contract]] between them, akin to common-law [[tort]]. German-speaking countries use the word ''Delikt'' for crime and ''unerlaubte Handlung'' for delict, but ''Deliktsrecht'' is a branch of [[Civil law (area)|civil law]] (similar to [[torts|tort law]]). In [[French law]], ''délit penal'' is a [[misdemeanor]] (between ''[[contravention]]'' ‘petty offence’ and ''crime'' ‘felony; major indictable offence’), while ''délit civil'', again, is a tort. Because of this, French law prefers to speak in terms of ''responsabilité civile'' (‘civil liability’). In the [[canon law of the Catholic Church]], a delict is a crime.