DAMAGES, in law, are the pecuniary recompense claimed on account of suffering an injury through the act of another. The peculiar constitution of the English common law courts, which, till lately, prevented them in most cases from giving any other remedy than by way of D., rendered the questions relating to this subject of unusual importance; but the progress of recent legislation has-been in the direction of restricting actions for D. to the cases in which the restitution of property or enforcement of a right cannot be otherwise attained. The court of chancery, on the other hand, could not give D., it could only enforce performance of an obligation by personal restraint, and hence, according to the nature of the remedy desired, the suitor resorted to the one or other court. In Scotland, the supreme court has always been able to give redress in either way.
Where a sum ascertained in amount is due, the action is one not properly for D., hut of debt. But where the sum is not ascertained, as where an injury has been done to a man's character or property, the action in either country can in general only be for D., the amount of which the injured party estimates, and which is determined by the judgment of the court, or verdict of a jury. subject to certain fixed rules which the courts have laid down, as the principle according to which the estimation is to be made. These, it is obviously impossible to detail here, and reference must be made to the title of the special subjects out of which a claim may arise for such information as it is practicable to give. It may be observed, however, that it "is a general rule to restrict the amount of b. to that of the actual pecuniary loss, wherever it can be ascertained; and
that neither in Scotland nor England will a stipulated penalty for breach of agreement be accepted as deterinining the sum due for D., unless it shall appeiti, by the use of the term "as liquidated damages," or some equivalent expression, that both the parties had intended to fix conclusively the sum payable in case of default. Other general rules are, that the injury for which D. are claimed must have affected the claimant individu ally, and not merely as one of the general public, although it is not essential that the injury should have done material hurt to him, as this only affects the amount of damages. And the injury suffered must have been the direct and immediate conse quence of the act done; if it has only been a secondary or remote result of the act, no D. will be given. And any act sued on must be an actual injustice; it is not enough that it produces disadvantageous results, if these arise only from doing what the party was justified in doing. D., therefore, may be sued for in respect of a crime involving liability to criminal punishment; but in England, in the case of a felony, no action for D. will lie au:ainst the offender, because it is the duty of the complainant to prosecute him criminally. It is otherwise, however, in the case of misdemeanors; an action for D. is there independent of criminal proceedings. In Scotland, this is the rule in refer ence to every species of crime.