Jeremy's Weblog

I recently graduated from Harvard Law School. This is my weblog. It tries to be funny. E-mail me if you like it. For an index of what's lurking in the archives, sorted by category, click here.

Friday, December 19, 2003

The 1L Course Primer, Part 2 of 6. 100 Words About... TORTS

Whoops, I ran you over with my rickshaw. A tort is a wrong, an accident, an "oops." Like your toaster exploding, your hot McDonalds coffee burning you, or your doctor cutting off the wrong leg. Tort law deals with how we figure out whether someone is to blame for the lung cancer you got from smoking, and how much money you deserve because eating Burger King made you fat. Words like "negligence" become important. Words like "ambulance chaser" become important. Words like "asbestos" become important. The key here is civil liability -- money -- not criminal (jail). That's another course.