A tort is a civil wrong, independent of contract, for which the law provides a remedy, usually damages. In Indonesian law the equivalent concept is perbuatan melawan hukum ("unlawful act").
The Indonesian Formula
Article 1365 of the Indonesian Civil Code provides that every unlawful act which causes loss to another obliges the person by whose fault the loss arose to compensate it. Four elements must therefore be proved: an unlawful act, fault, loss, and a causal link between the act and the loss.
A Broad Notion of Unlawfulness
Since the landmark Dutch decision Lindenbaum v Cohen (1919), which Indonesian courts follow, an act is unlawful not only when it breaches a statute, but also when it infringes another person's rights, conflicts with the actor's own legal duty, or offends decency, propriety or the care owed in social life.
Common Law Comparison
English law, by contrast, recognises a series of distinct torts, each with its own elements: negligence, nuisance, trespass, defamation, deceit and others. Negligence requires a duty of care, breach of that duty, and damage that is caused by the breach and not too remote.
Vicarious Liability
Both traditions hold employers liable for torts committed by employees in the course of their employment. In Indonesia this is found in Article 1367 of the Civil Code, which also extends liability to parents, teachers and others for those under their supervision.