Act of God
Natural disaster outside human control, for which no person is at fault / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Act of God?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
In legal usage in the English-speaking world, an act of God, act of nature, or damnum fatale ("loss arising from inevitable accident") is an event caused by no direct human action (e.g. severe or extreme weather and other natural disasters) for which individual persons are not responsible and cannot be held legally liable for loss of life, injury, or property damage.[2][3][4][5] An act of God may amount to an exception to liability in contracts (as under the Hague–Visby Rules),[6] or it may be an "insured peril" in an insurance policy.[7] In Scots law, the equivalent term is damnum fatale,[8] while most Common law proper legal systems use the term act of God.[9]
It is legally distinct from—though often related to—a common clause found in contract law known as force majeure.[10] In light of the scientific consensus on climate change, its modern legal applicability has been questioned by legal scholars.[11]