Delict and crime
When a person injures another by an act of reckless driving, he is accountable both to the victim of the wrong and to the community at large. To the former he has to render compensation for the resulting damage, whereas the State, as representative of the community, will institute proceedings with the aim of punishing the offender.
One and the same act can therefore constitute a wrong both against a private and against the public interest: it can be a delict as well as a crime. It is the law of delict which protects the interests of the injured individual and which determines whether and under which circumstances redress may be claimed; criminal law, on the other hand, subjects the wrongdoer to a sanction[4596] in order to prevent a repetition of the wrongful act and to deter others from committing it.[4597] Of course, there are many delicts that do not at the same time constitute crimes: negligent damage to somebody else's corporeal assets is an example. Public interest does not appear to call for a criminal sanction in these cases. Occasionally, social policy requires the abrogation of a criminal penalty. This has happened in South Africa with regard to adultery.[4598] Yet, though no longer criminal, the act can still constitute a delict and give rise to a claim for damages.[4599] Conversely, not every crime is a delict either. High treason and (in South Africa) blasphemy are crimes but they do not affect the interests of private individuals.[4600]2.
More on the topic Delict and crime:
- See Bauman, R. A., 'The Interface of Greek and Roman Law: Contract, Delict and Crime' (1996) 43 RIDA 3, 39-62 for an interesting discussion on delict and crime.
- In modern law a distinction is drawn between delict (or tort) and crime, or between the delictual (or tortious) and criminalaspects of an act.
- The subject called �obligations' is mostly about contract and delict. There are some other heads to be considered, but the right impression is given if we say that contract and delict between them occupy about ninety per cent of the ground.
- II. DELICT AND QUASI-DELICT
- Crime and Criminal Justice in the Dominate Period
- Crime and Criminal Justice in the Archaic Era
- THE COW AND THE PLOW: ANIMAL SUFFERING HUMAN GUILT AND THE CRIME OF CRUELTY
- Delict and contract
- The Name of the Delict
- Delict and tort
- The Shape of the Delict
- 1. Causation in the Roman law of delict