A tort is defined as an act that injures someone in some way, and for which the injured person may sue the wrongdoer for damages.
Torts are civil wrongs, as opposed to criminal ones.
Professor Krauss says we can better understand tort law by knowing what a tort is not. First, tort law does not exist in order to provide insurance. There are contractual markets for insurance policies to take care of that. Second, tort law doesn't exist to compensate innocent individuals. Krauss says the woman struck by lightning, the man who loses everything he owns to a more efficient competitor, the congenitally dumb or unattractive have no recourse in tort law.