direct (prohibiting speculative damages or compensation for pure economic loss) and affect a legitimate interest; however, judges do not recognise a hard and fast rule, meaning that great weight is given to the specific circumstances in each case with precedent serving to guide rather than control jurisprudence. The main principle in French tort law is that of fault, the principle that the individual who causes damage ought generally to be liable for it; however, following the Industrial Revolution, vicarious liability and strict liability have developed through both precedent and legislative action in response to the need to address damage caused by products, machines, and the actions of agents or employees. French tort law is primarily governed by articles to of the civil code which establish a number of distinct regimes for tort liability. Liability for one's own actions is governed by articles 1240 and 1241 while other provisions of the code provide for vicarious and other sui generis forms of liability. In addition, liability in specific cases (e.g. product liability and defamation) have been provided for in separate statutes outside the code and in European Union directives. Germany Outline German tort law is codified in Book 2 of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB), which provides for damages in circumstances in which there is no contractual relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant. German tort law protects plaintiffs against violations of: Legal interests (, literally: "legal good"): A legal interest is a good or interest protected by the legal system. Legal interests protected by tort are in particular life, the body, health, freedom and property. The type and number of protected legal interests are not conclusively defined and, where multiple such interests are at odds, they must be weighed against each other (e.g. human dignity versus freedom of speech in the context of the tort of defamation). Absolute rights (): Absolute rights provide a beneficiary with an exclusive, legally protected right to over a specific legal position (e.g. property rights), which everyone must respect. Protective laws (): In essence, a protective law is a provision of a written law which the Bundestag or a Landtag intended to protect individuals from some category of harm (e.g. a product liability or consumer protection law). There are three distinct categories of liability recognised under the BGB: liability for "culpable injustice", "injustice in rebuttable presumed liability", and strict liability arising from "endangerment". Liability for culpable injustice,