Law Relating To Tort

Question 1

Difference of damage & Damages

Answer 1

• Damage - legal loss or violation of legal right
• Damages - monetary or pecuniary compensation

Question 2

Difference of liquidated and unliquidated damages

Answer 2

• Liq - Pre - determined or fixed compensation
• Unliq - Not Pre - determined or decided beforehand.

Question 3

General Conditions of liability for a tort

Answer 3

• Wrongful Act or omission
• Legal Damage
• Legal remedy
• Mens Rea

Question 4

Wrongful Act or omission

Answer 4

• Wrongful Act - Result in violation of legal rights.
• Glasrow corporation v. Taylor
• Corp - failed to fence - poisonous tree - child ate - Corporation liable
• General cleaning corporation v. Christmas 🎄
• Employer - failed - safety belt - employee injury 🤕 - employer liable

Wrongful act or omission:
❖ The first essential ingredient in constituting a tort is that a person must have committed a wrongful act or omission.
❖ Every person whose legal rights, e.g., right of reputation, right of bodily safety and freedom, and right to property are violated without legal excuse, has a right of action against the person who violated them, whether loss results from such violation or not.
Case Laws:
1 Glasgow Corporation v. Taylor.
A corporation failed to put proper fencing to keep the children away from a poisonous tree and a child plucked and ate the fruit of the same tree and died.
Court held corporation liable for such omission.
2 General Cleaning Corporation v. Christmas.
An employer failed to provide safety belt for safe system of work resulting in an
employee suffering injuries. The employer shall be liable for the consequences of such omission.

Question 5

Legal damage

Answer 5

• Should be a legal injury or invasion of legal rights. Two maxims
• Damnum Sine Injuria
  
  • Damnum - harm, loss or damage
  • Injuria - infringement of rights
  • Sine - without
  • Glouster Grammer school case
  • Defendant left plaintiff’s school - started own school - students left P’s - enrolled D’s school - sued for monetary damage - Defendant - Not liable
• Injuria Sine Damnum
  
  • Injury 🤕 without damage
  • Eg : Trespass
  • Ashby V White
  • Plaintiff - was prevented from voting - sued for compensation - even when no monetary loss - Defendant was liable

There should be legal injury or invasion of the legal right. In the absence of an infringement of a legal right, an action does not lie. Two Maxims:
1 Damnum Sine Injuria.
❖ Damnum means harm, loss or damage in respect of money, comfort, health, etc.
❖ Injuria means infringement of a right conferred by law on the plaintiff.
❖ Sine: Without.
The maxim means that in a given case, a man may have suffered damage and yet have no action in tort, because the damage is not to an interest protected by the law of torts.
Case Laws:
1 Gloucester Grammar School Case:
In this case, defendant after leaving Plaintiff’s School where he worked as a teacher, started his own school. Being a teacher of standing, many students of Plaintiff’s school left and enrolled themselves into defendant’s school. Plaintiff filed a suit for monetary damages incurred by his own. Court held that defendant is not liable because competition is no ground of action even though monetary loss is caused.
2 Chasemore V Richards:
In this case, water supply to Plaintiff’s mill was disrupted due to defendant’s digging of his well. This resulted in cutting of water supply to plaintiff’s mill due to which it was shut down. Court held defendant not liable because although monetary losses were incurred there was no violation of legal right.
2 Injuria Sine Damnum.
❖ It means injury without damage, i.e., where there is no damage resulted yet
it is an injury or wrong in tort, i.e. where there is infringement of a legal right
not resulting in harm but plaintiff can still sue in tort.
❖ Some rights or interests are so important that their violation is an actionable tort without proof of damage.
❖ when there is an invasion of an “absolute” private right of an individual,
there is an injuria and the plaintiff’s action will succeed even if there is no
Damnum or damages.
Example: act of Trespass.
Case: Ashby V White
In this case, the plaintiff was prevented from voting at an election by the
defendant. Plaintiff sued defendant for compensation even if no monetary loss
was incurred by him. It was held that defendant was liable to pay compensation because he has violated legal right of plaintiff to cast his vote. Defendant had committed a tort

Question 6

Legal remedy

Answer 6

• Main remedy - unliquidated damages
• Other remedy - injunction, Restitution, Self help.

The third condition of liability for a tort is legal remedy. This means that to constitute a tort, the wrongful act must come under the law.
❖ The main remedy for a tort is an action for unliquidated damages.
❖ Other remedy:
➢ Injunction
➢ Restitution.
➢ Self-Help.
Example: If “A” finds a drunken stranger in his room who has no business to be there, and is thus a trespass, he (A) is entitled to get rid of him, if possible, without force but if that be not possible with such force as the circumstances of the case may warrant.