Conceptualizing violence under international law: do tort remedies fit the crime?
A private or civil wrong or injury, . . . for which the court will provide a remedy in the form of an action for damages.(1) CRIME [A]n act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it, and to which is annexed, upon conviction, . . . punishment[]. . . (2) VIOLENCE Unjust or unwarranted exercise of force . . . (3) I. INTRODUCTION In a domestic legal system, violence triggers two interrelated sets of laws and procedures: criminal and tort. Acts of violence the unjust or unwarranted use of force–constitute crimes. Where death results, the violence is labelled homicide and is ranked as some degree of manslaughter or murder.(4) Where lesser physical harm is inflicted, the violence is defined as the crime of assault.(5) Crimes render the perpetrator subject to criminal prosecution and punishment. The same acts of violence also constitute torts–envisions of rights which may be redressed through civil litigation.(6) Tort law permits a victim to sue the violent aggre
