The recent trends in the acceptance and assessment of damages in injury claims

Abstract

The Law of damages is very aptly summed up in the two Latin words - NEMINEM LAEDERE. These words mean that anybody who guess a wrong is in duty bound to make good such harm. Therefore since the early days of civilization the sublime principle of orderly neighbourly existence was that an injured party had a right to be re-instated in the position he was before he suffered the harm, (restoration of the status quo ante, as near as possible). Indeed after a historical evolution it has now come to be embodied in the majority of codes the world over. Thus under our law every person who through his fault causes damage, has to make good such damage Sec. 1074 of Cap. 23 of the Laws of Malta (The Civil Code) embodies this rule thus: "every person, however, i shall be liable for the damage which occurs through his fault." Moreover in legal systems where there is no written law on the matter of damages, the above mentioned general principle has been evolved in Case Law. It must be pointed out that today the law of damages, especially when the claim relates to a personal injury, means that the amounts being awarded, especially by foreign Courts are reaching astronomical amounts. This notwithstanding the Courts awarding damages has always kept in mind the general principle that though the injured party must be re-instated in the position he was prior to having suffered the injury (restitutio in integrum as much as possible) this must not, on the other hand work in such a way that the injured party unjustly enriches himself.