In tort law, which term describes the legal obligation to avoid causing harm to others?

• A. Duty of care
• B. Standard of care
• C. Breach
• D. Causation

Answer: (A)

The legal obligation to avoid causing harm to others is called the duty of care. In tort law, proving negligence starts with showing this duty exists—the idea that one person must act with enough care to avoid reasonably foreseeable harm to others in a given situation. The duty of care is the baseline obligation that arises from the relationship or circumstances (like a driver to other road users or a property owner to visitors).

It’s different from the standard of care, which is the level of conduct expected to meet that duty in a given situation. The standard of care is the measure used to judge whether the duty was satisfied. If someone falls short of that standard, there’s a breach. Finally, causation must be shown to connect the breach to the actual harm, and damages must be proven as a result of that harm. So the term that describes the obligation itself is duty of care.