Cops think they know what the law is...

Tort:
A wrong. Hayes v Massachusetts Mut. Life Ins. Co. 125 111 626, 18 NE 322. 

A wrong independent of contract. International Ocean Tel. Co. v Saunders, 

32 Fla 434, 14 So 148. A breach of duty which the law, as distinguished from a

mere contract, has imposed. Western Union Tel. Co. v Taylor, 84 Ga 408, 11 SE 396.

An injury or wrong committed, either with or without force, to the person or property

of another. Such injury may arise by the nonfeasance, by the malfeasance, or by the

misfeasance of the wrongdoer. Gindele v Corrigan, 129 111 582, 22 NE 516.

In a general way, a tort is distinguished from a breach of contract in that the latter arises 

under an agreement of the parties, whereas the tort, ordinarily, is a violation of a duty 

fixed by law, independent of contract or the will of the parties, although it may sometimes 

have relation to obligations growing out of, or coincident with a contract, and frequently 

the same facts will sustain either class of action. Busch v Interborough Rapid Transit Co. 

187 NY 388, 80 NE 197

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Crime:

 A crime is an act committed or omitted, in violation of a public law, either forbidding or
commanding it; a breach or violation of some public right or duty due to a whole
community, considered as a community In its social aggregate capacity, as distinguished
from a civil injury. Wilkins v. U. S

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Corpus delecti:
The body of a crime. The body (material substance) upon which a crime has been committed,
e. g., the corpse of a murdered man, the charred remains of a house burned down. In a
derivative sense, the substance or foundation of a crime; the substantial fact that a crime
has been committed. People v. Dick, 37 Cal. 2S1; White v. State, 49 Ala. 347; Goldman v.
Com., 100 Va, 805, 42 S. E. 923; State v. Hand. 1 Marv. (Del.) 545, 41 Atl. 192; State v.
Dickson, 78 Mo. 441