Although New Zealand went under the radar in terms of the request for

information about torts texts, Robert's reference to opening sentences

made me take a look at how the leading NZ text (Stephen Todd Law of

Torts in NZ (5th ed)) kicked things off:

"A student  new to the law may well be puzzled as to what is a 'tort'.

The word is not used very commonly and its connotations are not widely

understood. Perhaps, then, we should start our discussion with a

definition. Unfortunately this is not a straightforward task. The best

we can do is to say that a tort is a civil wrong, other than a breach of

contract or a breach of trust, which is remediable by way of an action

for unliquidated damages." The next comment is to the effect that the

definition reveals nothing as to the nature of the civil wrong.

Barry

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*****************************************

Barry Allan

Senior Lecturer

Faculty of Law

University of Otago

PO Box 56

Dunedin

New Zealand

phone: ++(64) (03) 479 8830.  fax:(03) 479 8855