Lesson no 2

General conditions of liability and essential elements of liability

The below mention are the conditions or the essential elements of liability in tort.
Wrongful Act: - To constitute tort there must be a wrongful act committed by the defendant. The
expression wrong act denotes to commission of an act which is contrary to law or omission of
act.
Omission of act for example :- BMC fails to maintain a construction situated in the city or if a
construction is collapsed causing death of people then BMC is liable in tort.
To constitute tort the act must be wrongful in the eyes of law and not according to the parties.
The act wrongful amounting to tort is decided by the court. In other words the wrongful act
committed by a person is tort or not is decided by the court.
Injuria Sine Damno :- Injury to an individual legal rights without any loss or damage
The term Injuria means infringement or violation of a legal right.
Sine means without or in the absence of
Damno means physical or mental damage or otherwise
Thus the term Injuria Sine Damno means Infringement or Violation of legal right without
damage. In this Plaintiffs legal right is affected but has not suffered any loss or damage.
Ashby v/s White (1702) 2 Ld Rayn 938
In this case plaintiff legal right of voting was violated or infringed. The defendant a voting
officer prevented the plaintiff from voting. The plaintiff filed a suit in the court even though the
candidate to whom he intended to vote got elected. The defendant was held liable on the ground
that plaintiff legal right was infringed or violated.
Damnum Sine Injuria : - Damage without the infringement of legal rights
In this case plaintiff suffers loss or damage with any injury to his legal right. Hence plaintiff suit
is not actionable.
The term Damnum means damage which is physical, mental or otherwise.
Sine means without or in absence of
Injuria means infringement or violation of legal rights

For example If A opens a fancy shop opposite B fancy shop and Sales in Bs fancy shop drops
causing loss to B, and if B files a suit in the court for the same then it is not actionable.
Relevant Case law
Glouster Grammar School Case (1410, Y.B.,11)
Facts of the case In this case the defendant started a school and collected reduced fee from the
student, as a result the students in plaintiff school took admission in defendant school. Due to the
competition the plaintiff has to reduce the fees from 40pence to 12pence, due to this plaintiff
suffered loss and sued the defendant. The court held that the plaintiff suit is not actionable on the
ground that his legal right is not infringed by the defendant.
In this case principle laid down is that every person has right to carry his own trade or profession
in competition with others and if as a result of healthy business competition his rival suffers a
loss then he is not entitled to recover any compensation. Here the defendant setting up his school
near the plaintiff school has exercised his legal right and therefore no action can be taken against
him.
Judgment The court held that the plaintiff is not entitled to any remedy since the defendant has
exercised his legal right by setting up the school without violating legal right.