The tort of deceit is a type of legal injury that occurs when a person intentionally and knowingly deceives another person into an action that damages them. Specifically, deceit requires that the tortfeasor
- makes a factual representation,
- knowing that it is false, or reckless or indifferent about its veracity,
- intending that another person relies on it,
- who then acts in reliance on it, to that person's own detriment.
Deceit dates in its modern development from Pasley v. Freeman. Here the defendant said that a third party was creditworthy to the claimant, knowing he was broke. The claimant loaned the third party money and lost it. He sued the defendant successfully.
