728
Opinion of Scalia, J.
of state authority"). We have commonly described it as creating a "constitutional tort," since violations of constitutional rights have been the most frequently litigated claims. See Crawford-El v. Britton, 523 U. S. 574, 600-601 (1998); Jefferson v. City of Tarrant, 522 U. S. 75, 78-79 (1997); McMillian v. Monroe County, 520 U. S. 781, 784 (1997); Richardson v. McKnight, 521 U. S. 399, 401 (1997); Johnson v. Jones, 515 U. S. 304, 307 (1995); Albright v. Oliver, 510 U. S. 266, 269 (1994); Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U. S. 226, 231 (1991); St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U. S. 112, 121 (1988); Daniels v. Williams, 474 U. S. 327, 329 (1986); Memphis Community School Dist., supra, at 307; Smith, supra, at 35; Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs., 436 U. S. 658, 691 (1978). In Wilson v. Garcia, we explicitly identified § 1983 as a personal-injury tort, stating that "[a] violation of [§ 1983] is an injury to the individual rights of the person," and that "Congress unquestionably would have considered the remedies established in the Civil Rights Act [of 1871] to be more analogous to tort claims for personal injury than, for example, to claims for damages to property or breach of contract." 471 U. S., at 277.
As described earlier, in Wilson, supra, and Okure, supra, we used § 1983's identity as a personal-injury tort to determine the relevant statute of limitations under 42 U. S. C. § 1988(a). We have also used § 1983's character as a tort cause of action to determine the scope of immunity, Kalina v. Fletcher, 522 U. S. 118, 124-125 (1997), the recoverable damages, Heck, supra, at 483; Memphis Community School Dist., supra, at 305-306, and the scope of liability, Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167, 187 (1961). In Owen v. Independence, 445 U. S. 622, 657 (1980), we even asserted that the attributes of § 1983 could change to keep up with modern developments in the law of torts: "Doctrines of tort law have changed significantly over the past century, and our notions of governmental responsibility should properly reflect that evo-
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