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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 contrasting terms. An 1860 legal ruling stated that: "It is essential to an action in tort that the act complained of should under the circumstances be legally wrongful as regards the party complaining; that is, it must prejudicially affect him in some legal right".

The law that relates to civil wrongs is part of the branch of the law that is called the civil law. A civil wrong can be followed by civil proceedings. It is a misnomer to describe a civil wrong as a "civil offence". The law of England recognised the concept of a wrong before it recognised the distinction between civil wrongs and crimes in the 13th century.

See also

• Civil penalty
• Misconduct

References

1. Williams (1982), pp. 9–10.
2. Clerk (1989), para. 1–14 at p. 12.
3. Rogers v Rajendro Dutt (1860) 13 Moo P C 209, 9 WR 149, 15 ER 78, quoted in House of Lords, Watkins (Respondent) v. Home Office (Appellants) and others, UKHL 17.
4. Williams (1982), p. 2.
5. Williams (1982), p. 3.
6. Williams (1982), p. 4.
7. Phillips (1960), pp. 207, 208, 213.

Further reading

• Clerk, J. F. (1989). Clerk and Lindsell on Torts (16 ed.). Sweet & Maxwell. ISBN 9780421377608.
• Phillips, O. Hood (1960). A First Book of English Law (4 ed.). London: Sweet & Maxwell.
• Williams, Glanville (1982). Learning the Law (11 ed.). London: Stevens. ISBN 9780420463005.

v t e Miscarriage of justice
Types of misconduct	Prosecutorial misconduct Police misconduct Police corruption Selective prosecution Malicious prosecution Selective enforcement Abuse of process Attorney misconduct Bad apples Abuse of discretion Entrapment False arrest Gaming the system Legal malpractice Kangaroo court Show trial Sharp practice Jury tampering Witness tampering Brady disclosure Spoliation of evidence Civil wrong
False evidence	False confession Forced confession False accusation Rape Child sexual abuse Police perjury Mistaken identity Eyewitness memory Eyewitness identification Cross-race effect Misinformation effect Tampering with evidence Frameup
Wrongful convictions	List of wrongful convictions in the United States List of exonerated death row inmates List of miscarriage of justice cases Overturned convictions in the United States Wrongful execution
Advocacy	Innocence Project National Registry of Exonerations Investigating Innocence
Contributing factors	Race in the United States criminal justice system Innocent prisoner's dilemma Blue wall of silence Racial profiling Loophole Ineffective assistance of counsel Prosecutor's fallacy
Norms and remedies	Legal ethics Exculpatory evidence Right to a fair trial Actual innocence Equal Protection Clause Innocence Protection Act
Related concepts	Capital punishment in the United States Batson v. Kentucky List of death row inmates in the United States
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