Tort of deceit

The tort of deceit is a type of legal injury that occurs when a person intentionally and knowingly deceives another person into an action that damages them. Specifically, deceit requires that the tortfeasor

  • makes a factual representation,
  • knowing that it is false, or reckless or indifferent about its veracity,
  • intending that another person relies on it,
  • who then acts in reliance on it, to that person's own detriment.

Deceit dates in its modern development from Pasley v. Freeman. Here the defendant said that a third party was creditworthy to the claimant, knowing he was broke. The claimant loaned the third party money and lost it. He sued the defendant successfully.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.