Question

Killing of a human being by another is a

• A. Crime
• B. Tort
• C. Both
• D. Neither a crime nor a tort

Hint:

An act can easily be both a crime and a tort.
For instance, assault, battery, defamation, and negligence often trigger both criminal prosecutions and civil suits for damages simultaneously.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks to classify the act of one human being killing another within the branches of law (specifically, whether it constitutes a crime, a tort, or both).

Step 2: Key Principles and Statutory Provisions:
This involves understanding how a single wrongful act can simultaneously violate public criminal law and private civil law.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation and Analysis:

• When a person unlawfully kills another, it is a severe offense against society.
It is prosecuted by the State as a crime (such as murder or culpable homicide under the Indian Penal Code).
The purpose of this criminal prosecution is to punish the offender.

• Simultaneously, the act of killing is a civil wrong (tort) against the deceased person and their dependents.
Under civil law, this constitutes the tort of "wrongful death" or "negligence".

• The legal heirs of the deceased can file a civil lawsuit in a tort court (or under specific statutes like the Fatal Accidents Act) to claim financial compensation/damages for the loss of dependency and consortium.

• Therefore, the single act of killing is both a crime (remedied by punishment) and a tort (remedied by compensation).

Step 4: Final Answer:
The act constitutes both a crime and a tort, making Option C the correct choice.