Obligations arising under a contract between the parties are termed contractual obligations, while the obligation to pay damages for the satisfaction of a tort is called a delictal obligation.
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A tort differs from a contract in the following ways:
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1. A tort is inflicted against or without consent; a contract is founded upon consent, and the contractual liability arises on account of a breach of agreement.
2. In tort no privities is needed, but it is implied in a contract.
3. A tort is violation of a right in rem a breach of contract is an infringement of a right in personam. Torts, therefore, creates rights in rem and binds persons generally but in contract only rights in personam are acquired by consent and bind only a specific person or persons.
4. Motive is often taken into consideration in a delictal obligation, but it is absent in a breach of contract.
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5. In tort the measure of damage is neither limited nor capable of being determined with precision; in a breach of contract it is generally determined by the stipulation of parties.
6. In case of tort there is a breach of general law, but in a contract the right or duly arises, as said above, from an agreement between the person committing the wrong and the person against whom it is committed.
7. A tort in origin was rccognised by Common Law, while a breach of contract was recognised only by the Court of Chancery.