In civil law, a delict is an intentional or negligent act which gives rise to a legal obligation between parties even though there has been no contract between them. Due to the large number of civil law systems in the world, it is hard to state any generalities about the concept. Moreover in some civil law countries (e.g.: Italy, Spain) delicts are most serious crimes, similar to felonies in common law countries, whereas in other states (e.g.: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark), they are crimes of intermediate seriousness (less serious than those termed crimes).

In the most narrowly construed sense, delict is a Latin word (delictum = offence, wrong) and a legal term, which, in some civil law systems, signifies a willful wrong, similar to the common law concept of tort though differing in many substantive ways. The law of delicts in civil law countries is usually a general statute passed by the legislature whereas tort law in common law countries arises from case law. In addition, a delict is defined abstractly in terms of infringement of rights whereas in common law, there are many specific types of torts (English terminology).