Comment by samhw

> a contract is only a contract if and only if it abides by contract law

That's true, but I don't quite see how that makes a contract the law. Someone who doesn't turn up to work isn't doing something illegal by dint of breaking their employment contract. IME, 'illegal' generally refers to breaking the criminal law, whereas I wouldn't say this even breaks civil law, sensu stricto. https://malesculaw.com/is-breach-of-contract-a-tort/

Also, there's some casual discussion by lawyers of this exact terminological question here: https://www.quora.com/How-should-a-breach-of-contract-be-qua...