Both slander and libel are types of what?

• A. Torts (civil wrongs).
• B. Criminal acts.
• C. Contracts.
• D. Constitutional rights.

Answer: (A)

Slander and libel describe defamation, which is treated as a tort—an civil wrong. The core idea is that making false statements about someone that harm their reputation gives the harmed party a civil claim for damages or other remedies. Slander is spoken defamation, while libel is defamation in written form, but both are categorized under tort law because the remedy focuses on compensating the victim rather than punishing the offender in a criminal sense. They are not contracts, which involve promises enforceable by law, nor constitutional rights, which concern protections against government action. They aren’t typically criminal acts, though some places have criminal defamation statutes, the standard and most commonly tested classification in professional and legal contexts is that defamation is a tort.