From a delict, tort, fault, crime, or malfeasance. In both the civil and the common law, obligations and causes of action are divided into two great classes, those arising ex contractu, (out of a contract) and those ex delicto. The latter are such as grow out of or are founded upon a wrong or tort, e.g., trespass, trover, replevin. These terms were known In English law at a very early period. See Inst 4, 1, pr.; Mackeld. Rom. Law, s 384 ; 3 Bl. Comm. 117; Bract, fol. 101b.
Ex delicto non ex supplicio emergit infamia. Infamy arises from the crime, not from the punishment.