[Law of Torts] – In
cases of injuria sine damno, i.e., the infringement of an absolute
private right without any actual loss or damage, the person whose right is
infringed has a cause of action. Every person has an absolute right to his
property, to the immunity of his person, and to his liberty, and an
infringement of this right is actionable per se. In India, the same principles
have been followed. The Privy Council has observed that “there may be, where a
right is interfered with, injuria sine damno sufficient to found an action: but
no action can be maintained where there is neither damnum nor injuria. In the
leading case of Ashby v. White, the defendant, a returning officer, wrongfully
refused to register a duly tendered vote of the plaintiff, a legally qualified
voter, at a parliamentary election and the candidate for whom the vote was
tendered was elected, and no loss was suffered by the rejection of the vote,
nevertheless it was held that an action lay. In this case the returning officer
has acted maliciously.
This maxim ‘ Injuria sine Damnum ‘ is just opposite
to the maxim ‘ damnum sine injuria’ .
The word ‘ damnum ‘ means damage . This damage
may be loss of health , loss of service , physical hurt and loss of money or
the like . The word ‘ injuria’ means a legal injury or tortuous act or an
infringement of legal right . And the word ‘sine ‘means without . So the maxim
means that an infringement of any legal right without damage. Where there
is infringement of legal right , action lies against that act
. Therefore ,if any legal right is infringed , it is immaterial whether any
loss is suatained or not , this maxim ‘injuria sine damnum ‘affords right to
sue for legal remedy .
No comments:
Post a Comment