Heartbalm tort

[1] Heartbalm actions in the United States typically include seduction, criminal conversation, alienation of affection, and breach of promise to marry.

[1] Of these, criminal conversation and alienation of affection are marital torts, originally restricted to husbands but in many states later made available to spouses regardless of gender.

[2] In England and other common law jurisdictions, additional heartbalm actions were traditionally recognized, such as enticement and wrongful harbouring (tortious refusal to allow a husband to visit a wife who has left him).

[3] A claim for damages based on loss of consortium is also sometimes considered a heartbalm action in England and elsewhere.

[7] Following a report by the Law Reform Committee in 1963, England abolished all of the remaining traditional heartbalm torts (excluding loss of consortium) by statute in 1970.