Divisions of Civil Law

Divisions of Civil Law

Civil law is typically divided into three main areas:  property, contract, and tort.  Property deals with establishing and enforcing the rights of possession and ownership.  Trespass is one example of a legal wrong in the law of property. Contract deals with voluntary agreements between individuals, whether implicit or explicit.  Breach of contract is the primary example of a legal wrong in the law of contract. Tort deals with a variety of other legal wrongs that involve harm to individuals; examples include product liability, malpractice, personal injury, and wrongful death.

Of these three categories, tort is certainly the most controversial.  The law of property and contract have seen little change over the decades, but the law of tort has gone through many changes.  The explosion of litigation in the latter half of the 20th century has taken place, for the most part, in torts.