Remedies available under Law of Torts
As we all know, ‘A tort is a civil wrong where there is an infringement of a legal right and the compensation which are awarded in the form of damages is largely in the form of unliquidated’. That means the amount which will be given in the form of damages will not be known from before hand and that will be further decided at that time which may differ from situation to situation. The reason behind it is our law of torts is largely uncodified and based on precedents. So, there is no way to that.
Since there are acts that harms or hurts an individual, the law provides remedies also to placate that person. Largely, it is classified into:
Judicial Remedies- As the name says, it means the remedies which are provided by the court of law by actually taking all the facts and data into account. It is of three types:
Damages: This amount of money is meant to be given to the aggrieved party to bring him or her back at the position where they were before the tort occurred. It is a primary remedy which aims to cover the loss of the plaintiff but here it is important that ‘damages’ is not to be confused with ‘damage’ which means ‘an injury’.
Based upon the objective of the compensation, damages are also classified into various types such as Contemptuous, Nominal, Substantial and Exemplary or Punitive. In all these types, the aim is different. Like in case of contemptuous damages, it is very low and generally show the court’s disapproval whereas in the case of Exemplary or Punitive damages, it is awarded very high in amount to set a public example so that in future nothing of this sort happens. Also, in this case the defendant or accused has been ignorant excessively to which the court responds like this.
But largely all the damages are classified into either general damages or special damages based on the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant. Sometimes, it happens that there may not be a duty of care in the normal circumstance or situation but it arises when the plaintiff and defendant are connected. For example: A normal passerby does not have any duty to pick up a child when he or she falls but duty of care is present with a person who is the nanny of that child. Because that is her’s job to take care of the child and she will be responsible if she fails in that and the damages which will be provided in this case is special damages as there is a special relationship between the aggrieved and the accused. Likewise it is the duty of the passerby to keep in mind that he does not bump into another person and hurt him or her and if he does that and harm to a certain extent then the case will be of general damages as it is the general duty of person to take care.
Injunction: In this kind of remedy, instead of awarding damages to the aggrieved party the court orders the defendant or the accused party to perform his promises and play his role. It is basically an order which order the person to stop the wrongful act which he is committing and start acting according to the role which is usually a positive act.
Specific Restitution of Property: It is the remedy which provides for the restoration of goods back to the owner of goods. It is basically giving back the property back to which it belongs.
Extra- Judicial Remedies- In this case, the parties solve everything among themselves and there is no role of courts. Some examples in this regard are Expulsion of the trespasser, Re-entry on Land, Re- caption of goods, Abatement, Distress damage feasant.
Therefore, the main objective of giving a remedy is to placate that person with whom wrong has happened. The law recognizes that and that is why if a case comes under them they try their best to cover the damage as much as possible.
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