Delict

The act by which one person, by fraud or malignity, causes some damage or tort to some other. In its most enlarged sense, it includes all kinds of crimes and misdemeanors; even the injury caused by another, either voluntarily or accidentally without evil intention. However, delicts are more commonly understood as small offences which are punished by a small fine or a short imprisonment.

Delicts are either public or private: The public are those which affect the whole community by their hurtful consequences; The private is that which is directly injurious to a private individual.

A quasi-delict is the act of a person, who without malignity, but with inexcusable imprudence, causes an injury to another.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.