Torts Case Study

INTRODUCTION

Salmond defines tort as a civil wrong for which the remedy is a common law action for unliquidated damages and which is not exclusively the breach of a contract or the breach of a trust or other merely equitable obligation. For eg: negligence where there is breach of duty and reasonable care , the compensation is provided to the person against whom there is a breach. To constitute a tort of civil wrong there must be a wrongful act or omission and that act should infringe upon the legal right or should give rise to actual damage to the person in order to be actionable and the most significant constituent of law of torts is the legal remedy which is awarded in the form of damages. The main objective

However, in tort law, damages are more difficult to assess . Damages are calculated by representing in economic terms a plaintiff’s loss or injury to property , person and equality of

When a claim for damages is included in an action, the claimant is required under the law to provide evidence in support of the claim and to give facts upon which the damages could be assessed. Before assessment of damages claimant must first furnish evidence to warrant the award of damages. He must also provide facts that would form the basis of assessment of the damages he would be entitled to. His failure to do so would be fatal to his claim for damages. That is why in all actions where damages is one of the reliefs claimed, the claimant is always called upon to give evidence in support of the claim for damages after the judgment is entered in his favour upon the failure of the defendant to defend the action. After the evidence is presented by the claimant , he claims for the damages. There are three major matters which the court considers while awarding the damages