in relation to nuisance matters. At the same time, each legal system provides for a variety of defences for defendants in tort claims which, partially or fully, shield defendants from liability. In a limited range of cases varying between jurisdictions, tort law will tolerate self-help as an appropriate remedy for certain torts. One example of this is the toleration of the use of reasonable force to expel a trespasser, which is typically also a defence against the tort of battery. In some, but not all, civil and mixed law jurisdictions, the term delict is used to refer to this category of civil wrong, though it can also refer to criminal offences. Other jurisdictions may use terms such as extracontractual responsibility (France) or civil responsibility (Québec). In comparative law, the term tort is generally used. The word 'tort' was first used in a legal context in the 1580s, although different words were used for similar concepts prior to this time. A person who commits a tortious act is called a tortfeasor. Although crimes may be torts, the cause of legal action in civil torts is not necessarily the result of criminal action. A victim of harm, commonly called the injured party or plaintiff, can recover their losses as damages in a lawsuit. To prevail, the plaintiff in the lawsuit must generally show that the tortfeasor's actions or lack of action was the proximate cause of the harm, though the specific requirements vary between jurisdictions. Common law History Torts and crimes in common law originate in the Germanic system of compensatory fines for wrongs, with no clear distinction between crimes and other wrongs. In Anglo-Saxon law, most wrongs required payment in money paid to the wronged person or their clan. Fines in the form of wīte (literally 'blame, fault') were paid to the king or holder of a court for disturbances of public order, while the fine of weregild was imposed on those who committed murder with the intention of preventing blood feuds. Some wrongs in later law codes were botleas 'without remedy' (e.g. theft, open murder, arson, treason against one's lord), that is, unable to be compensated, and those convicted of a botleas crime were at the king's mercy. Items or creatures which caused death were also destroyed as deodands. Alfred the Great's Doom Book distinguished unintentional injuries from intentional ones, and defined culpability based on status, age, and gender. After