In legal terms, a tort is a civil wrong, as opposed to a criminal wrong.  The term “tort” does not refer to actions based on a contract or statute. It is an act that injures someone and for which the injured can sue the wrongdoer for damages. Often, the injury is physical (resulting from assault—an intentional tort, for example), but there can be nonphysical injuries involved as well, such as mental distress caused by slander.  There are different categories of torts including negligence, intentional torts, statutory torts, nuisance, defamation, and economic torts.