Damnum Sine Injuria for CLAT MCQ - Practice Questions & Answers

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Damnum Sine Injuria

The doctrine of Damnum Sine Injuria, which means damage without injury, is a legal principle of tort law that applies when a plaintiff suffers a loss or damage due to the defendant's actions, but there was no legal injury. Under this principle, the plaintiff cannot recover damages from the defendant since they have not committed any legal wrong.
One notable case that illustrates the principle of Damnum Sine Injuria is Gloucester Grammar School Case.
- In this case, a new school opened in the town and offered education similar to what the plaintiff school was offering.
- As a result, several students left the plaintiff's school to join the new one.
- The plaintiff school sued the new school, alleging that they had caused them financial loss and damage to their reputation.
However, the court held that the plaintiff school had not suffered any legal injury since the defendant had not committed any legal wrong.
It was not against the law to start a new school, and students had the right to choose where they wanted to study.
The court further stated that the mere fact that the plaintiff school had lost students to the defendant's school did not necessarily mean that the plaintiff had sustained any actionable injury.
Therefore, in the absence of any legal injury, the principle of Damnum Sine Injuria applied, and the plaintiff school could not recover damages from the defendant.
The principle of Damnum Sine Injuria acknowledges that there may be situations where a plaintiff incurs loss or damage due to the defendant's actions, but there was no legal wrongdoing.
In such cases, the plaintiff does not have a legal claim to recover damages from the defendant. This doctrine is essential in distinguishing between what is merely an inconvenience and what is a legal injury that attracts a remedy in tort law.