White v. Sealy, 169 White v. Steele, 44 White v. Webb, 300 Whitehouse v. Atkinson, 289, 318 Wild v. Clarkson, 161, 169 Wild v. Holt, 291, 333 Wild Ranger (The), 311 Wilde v. Fort, 139, 140 Willis v. Bernard, 382 Wilson v. Lancashire & Yorkshire Ry. Wilson v. Wigg, 401, 402 Wilson v. Webster, 382 Wilson v. Newport Dock Co., 13, 17 Wilson v. Tumman, 317 Winter v. Haldimand, 265 Winter v. Henn, 384 Winter v. Trimmer, 99, 170, 220 Winter v. Wroot, 383 Winterbottom v. Earl of Derby, 343 Wilford v. Berkeley, 457, 460 Wilkes v. Hungerford Market Co., 334, 343 Wilkinson v. Grant, 135 Wilkinson v. Hyde, 263 Wintle v. Rudge, 302 Wise v. Metcalfe, 397 Withers v. Henley, 63 Withers v. Reynolds, 153 Wilkinson v. Kirby, 338 Wilkinson v. Sharland, 450 Willetts v. Green, 156 William v. Gwyn, 279 Williams, ex parte, 106 Williams v. African Steam Ship Co., 225 Williams v. Archer, 304, 308, 313 Williams v. Bosanquet, 401 Williams v. Breedon, 391, 446, 447 Williams v. Burrell, 54, 145, 148 Williams v. Cooke, 80 Williams v. Cooper, 426 Williams v. Currie, 458 Williams v. Davies, 93 Williams v. Earle, 205 Williams v. Glenton, 135, 139 Williams V. London Assurance Co., 272 Williams v. Morland, 343 Williams v. Mostyn, 6, 356 Williams v. Reynolds, 27, 32, 120 Williams v. Vines, 429 Williamson v. Williamson, 106 Wollaston v. Hakewill, 401, 402 Wolveridge v. Steward, 241 Wood v. Akers, 83 Wood v. Bell, 296 Wood v. Hurd, 375, 460 Wood v. Morewood, 281, 333 Wood v. Waud, 342, 343 Woodger v. G. W. Ry. Co., 220 Woodward v. Dowse, 279 Woolsey v. Crawford, 178 Wordsworth v. Harley, 63 Workman v. Great Northern Ry. Co., 73 Wormer v. Biggs, 300 Worthington v. Barlow, 399 Worthington v. Warrington, 137 Wright v. Court, 435 Wright v. Lewis, 443 Wright & Pole, Re, 256 DAMAGES. CHAPTER I. CASES IN WHICH DAMAGES MAY BE RECOVERED. DAMAGES are the pecuniary satisfaction which a plaintiff may obtain by success in an action. They may rise to almost any amount, or they may dwindle down to being merely nominal. They may be governed by rules so strict as to enable the Judge to dictate their amount as a matter of law; or they may be left, within loose limits, almost entirely to the discretion of the jury. It becomes then a most important inquiry to ascertain the principles by which they are measured, and the species of evidence by which they may be aggravated or reduced. I propose, in the following work, first to state briefly the actions in which damages may be recovered; then to examine the rules by which they are measured; and finally to inquire into the practice which prevails in Westminster as to the pleading and assessment of damages, and to point out the cases in which the Court will review the decisions arrived at by a jury. Damages are recoverable in all personal actions at common Damages in law; and so they are in mixed actions by the very definition personal and of the latter, as being "suits wherein some real property mixed, is demanded, and also personal damages for a wrong sustained" (a). But no damages can be obtained in real actions. but not in real In these the plaintiff only claims title to real property, but actions, not damages, and the Court cannot give the demandant that which he demands not. Judex non reddat plus quam ipse (a) 3 Bl. Com. 118. B nor on an indictment. Damages in actions on a penal statute; petens requirit (b). This exception was once very important, but since stat. 3 & 4 W. IV. c. 27, which, at one blow (c), swept away sixty-two real actions with barbarous names, it has become quite insignificant. Since that statute there are only two real actions left, viz., writ of right of dower, and ejectment. The latter action, too, in one instance assumes the form of a mixed action, when brought by landlord against tenant. In this case damages may be obtained for mesne profits (d). Quare impedit, and Dower unde nihil habet, are both mixed actions, in which damages may be obtained, as will be seen under those heads (e). No damages are recoverable on an indictment, or information, as the suit is maintained in the name of the king (ƒ); and even where the statute gives damages to the person aggrieved, they cannot be obtained on the indictment, but must be sued for in an action on the statute, in the name of the party grieved (g). But an informer, upon conviction of the prisoner on any penal law, may have the third part of the fine the Court set upon him, according to the king's privy seal to that purpose (h). Where a defendant is sued in debt upon a penal statute, several distinctions are taken as to his liability to damages for the detention of the penalty. Where the action is brought by a common informer, no damages can be obtained; because as he had no right to the money before the action was commenced, it cannot be said that it was detained from him. But it is otherwise where the penalty is given to the party grieved (i). In the latter case too the further distinction is taken, that when a statute gives a penalty certain, and also an action of debt, if the defendant does not pay on demand, but forces the plaintiff to a suit, he shall recover his damages, because the other did not pay the duty due by the statute [(e) Dower, writ of right of dower and quare impedit, are now commenced by ordinary writs of summons with special indorsements, C. L. P. Act, 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. 126), s. 26.] (f) 1 Roll. Abr. 220. (g) 2 Hawk. P. C. c. 25, s. 3. (h) R. v. Gouer, 1 Keb. 487. (i) North v. Musgrave, 1 Roll. Abr. 574; Frederick v. Lookup, 4 Burr. 2018; Cuming v. Sibly, ibid. 2489. |