A markedly different experience is found in the Anglo-Saxon legal sphere. In the United States, for instance, particular prominence is given to the so-called Dram Shop Laws, which attribute direct liability to bars and restaurants for accidents caused by clients who had been served alcohol in excess. These Dram shop laws are established at the state level through statutes (Dram Shop Acts) or common law (court decisions), making alcohol-serving establishments liable for damages caused by intoxicated clients they overserved. These laws hold businesses accountable for injuries and property damage resulting from the overservice of alcohol to visibly intoxicated individuals or minors, aiming to reduce alcohol-related harm, and they originated in 18th-century England. III. GENERAL ASPECTS OF CIVIL LIABILITY The institute of civil liability occupies a pivotal position within the field of Civil Law, extending beyond its immediate boundaries and permeating almost the entirety of the legal order. As Menezes Cordeiro observes, it arises “when someone has perpetrated a harmful unlawful act or tort” and entails, at a subsequent stage, the imposition of an obligation upon the wrongdoer to provide compensation aimed at suppressing or mitigating the harm caused. Tortious liability thus emerges from the general duties embedded within the legal system, its contours varying according to the circumstances and manner of their breach. The relationship between the wrongdoer and the injured party derives directly from the wrongful act itself and the fulfilment of the other legal requirements of tort liability. This stands in contrast with contractual liability, which finds its origin in the contract, and more specifically, in its breach. The requirements of extra-contractual civil liability differ according to doctrinal approaches and schools of thought. It is not the purpose of this article to adopt a definitive stance on such divergences. Rather, it is to establish a general framework for the elements of tort liability, which are: the act (fact); unlawfulness; imputation (through fault, risk, or sacrifice); damage; and causal link. Each of these will be briefly outlined. A fact is any event capable of producing legal effects. For the purposes of this discussion, the relevant facts are those acts originating in human conduct. Only such acts are capable of generating extra-contractual liability, given that liability presupposes human intervention, whether by action or omission. 181 THE CIVIL LIABILITY OF BARS AND RESTAURANTS
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