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Is there any difference or overlap between the two? Does one more broadly encompass the other?

Are torts defined in statute or do they exist alongside statute in some way more fundamentally and less ephemerally than statutes exist?

What is a “common law tort “?

In the past there used to be a Wikipedia page, “list of torts” but it didn’t seem to really classify then be jurisdictions much less give the original basis for each tort, and furthermore there were a huge number of different torts.

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First, civil law has, confusingly, two meanings. It can denote the legal systems used in most of Europe, as opposed to the common-law systems arising in England and spreading to most of the former British empire.

In the US, and in other common-law jurisdictions, civil law is pretty much everything other than criminal law. Given the tagging of the question, this seems to be the sense that you have in mind.

What is tort law and how does it differ from civil law? Is there any difference or overlap between the two? Does one more broadly encompass the other?

Tort law is a subset of civil law.

Are torts defined in statute?

Some are; some aren't. There is a common-law doctrine of torts. These torts have been defined by the courts through judicial precedent rather than by the legislature through statute law. They are therefore known as "common law torts." Some jurisdictions have abolished these torts and replaced them with torts defined by statute.

or do they exist alongside statute in some way more fundamentally and less ephemerally than statutes exist?

Statutorily defined torts are rather less ephemeral than common-law torts, not more.

What is a “common law tort “?

See above.

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    In common law jurisdictions many statutes relating to torts are passed with an assumption of common law tort doctrines that not themselves defined by statute.
    – ohwilleke
    May 3, 2022 at 16:05
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    @JosephP. "Is there anywhere one can find a whatsoever authoritative enumeration or reference of torts as well as their respective origins, jurisdictional applicability, and corresponding authoritative sources for understanding them?" No. The closest things in U.S. law would be the Restatement of Torts (several editions), Prosser and Keaton on Torts (a treatise), tort textbooks and class outlines, legal history books, pattern jury instructions, and portions of the West digest system on torts. But the common law is inherently decentralized. See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tort
    – ohwilleke
    May 3, 2022 at 16:14
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    @JosephP. The list will be different in different jurisdictions, and probably every common-law tort has been abolished in at least one jurisdiction. As an example, Tennessee has abolished the common-law torts of seduction and criminal conversation in the portion of its criminal code that defines sexual offenses.
    – phoog
    May 4, 2022 at 11:26
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    @JosephP. Courts existed for centuries before statue law was developed into anything resembling its modern state. When the courts began defining common law torts (and crimes), it wasn't in fact true that the courts' job was to apply statue laws. In the days when this practice was established (the late medieval period), the statute books were not as comprehensive as they are today.
    – phoog
    May 5, 2022 at 10:32
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    @JosephP. According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law#Medieval_English_common_law the concept of common law arose in the middle of the 12th century, around the same time as the initial development of tort law. When the actual term "common law" came to be used may have been later. It's hard to tell from English dictionaries because in the 12th century people who were making laws were speaking Anglo-Norman French and writing in Latin. This was also the century during which Old English gave way to Middle English. They might have called it "common law" in one of those languages.
    – phoog
    May 5, 2022 at 10:55

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