deliktu

Deliktu is a term used in several continental legal vocabularies to refer to a wrongful act or offense, typically within the civil law tradition. It denotes a non‑contractual violation of a legal duty that can give rise to liability for damages. The word is related to the broader family of terms such as delikt, delikts, or deliktu in various languages, and shares its roots with Latin delictum and cognates like German Delikt and Polish delikt. In practical usage, deliktu often appears in inflected forms within phrases describing offenses or obligations.

In civil law jurisdictions, a delict is distinguished from criminal wrongdoing. A delict concerns civil liability: a harmed party seeks compensation or restitution from the responsible person, based on fault, causation, and resulting damages. Proving intent or negligence is typically central to establishing liability, though the precise formulations vary by jurisdiction. By contrast, criminal law addresses offenses against the state or public order and usually carries punishment rather than monetary compensation.

Common examples of delicts include negligence causing harm, defamation, and intentional interference with another’s rights, situations where a party’s fault leads to another’s loss. Some legal systems also categorize certain acts as delicts of specific types, such as nuisance or trespass, each with its own standards for fault and harm.

See also: tort, delict (general concept), civil liability, crime.