A wrong or wrength (from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

– 'crooked') is an act that is illegal or immoral. Legal wrongs are usually quite clearly defined in the law of a state or

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

. They can be divided into

civil wrong A civil wrong or wrong is a cause of action under civil law. Types include tort, breach of contract and breach of trust. Something that amounts to a civil wrong is wrongful. A wrong involves the violation of a right because wrong and right are ...

s and

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

s (or ''criminal offenses'') in

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

countries, while civil law countries tend to have some additional categories, such as contraventions. Moral wrong is an underlying concept for legal wrong. Some

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. ...

wrongs are punishable by law, for example,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

. Other moral wrongs have nothing to do with law but are related to unethical behaviours. On the other hand, some legal wrongs, such as many types of parking offences, could hardly be classified as moral wrongs.

Legal wrong

A violation of law is any act (or, less commonly, failure to act) that fails to abide by existing law. Violations generally include both

s and

s. Some acts, such as

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

, can violate civil and criminal laws. In law, a wrong can be a legal injury, which is any damage resulting from a violation of a

legal right Some philosophers distinguish two types of rights, natural rights and legal rights. * Natural rights are those that are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government, and so are ''universal'', ''fundamental rights ...

. A legal wrong can also imply being contrary to the principles of justice or law. It means that something is contrary to conscience or morality and results in treating others unjustly. If the loss caused by a wrong is minor enough, there is no compensation, which principle is known as '' de minimis non curat lex''. Otherwise, damages apply. The law of England recognised the concept of a "wrong" before it recognised the distinction between

s (governed by civil law) and crimes (defined by

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

), which distinction was developed during the thirteenth century. Civil law violations usually lead to

civil penalties A civil penalty or civil fine is a financial penalty imposed by a government agency as restitution for wrongdoing. The wrongdoing is typically defined by a Codification (law), codification of legislation, regulations, and decrees. The civil fine ...

like fines, criminal offenses to more severe

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beh ...

s. The severity of the punishment should reflect the severity of the violation (

retributive justice Retributive justice is a legal concept whereby the criminal offender receives punishment proportional or similar to the crime. As opposed to revenge, retribution—and thus retributive justice—is not personal, is directed only at wrongdoing, ...

). In realistic situations and for minor violations, however,

altruistic punishment Third-party punishment is punishment of a transgressor (first party) which is administered, not by a victim of the transgression (second party), but rather by a third party not directly affected by the transgression. It has been argued that third-pa ...

was shown not 'to fit the crime'. This subdivision is similar to the distinction between

misdemeanour A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

s, and

felonies A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that ...

. Other examples of violations of the law include: *

Infraction A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary of ...

, in United States law, minor or

petty offense A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary of ...

s that do not require

jury trial A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial, in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are increasingly used ...

. In common usage, "violations" are treated as synonymous with infractions *

Willful violation In the North American legal system A legal system is a set of legal norms and institutions and processes by which those norms are applied, often within a particular jurisdiction or community. It may also be referred to as a legal order. The comp ...

, in U.S. law, an act with intentional disregard for a regulation, statute, and policy * Infringement, various violations of laws or rights, usually used in the context of intellectual property ** e.g. copyright violation *

Breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

* Probation violation * against traffic rules ** Moving violation, any violation of law committed by a driver while the vehicle is in motion ** Parking violation, parking a motor vehicle in a restricted place or an unauthorized manner

References

Bibliography

*Willis, Hugh. ''Principles of the Law of Damages''. The Keefe-Davidson Co.: St. Paul, 1910.

External links

{{Set index article Criminal law Concepts in ethics Civil law (common law) Legal doctrines and principles

Legal wrong

See also

References

Bibliography

External links