Damnum injuria datum meaning

Loss or damage suffered because someone has committed a legal wrong, giving rise to civil liability. The phrase is a Latin maxim, not defined in legislation, and is used in case law and legal commentary to describe loss (damnum) caused by a wrongful infringement of a legal right or duty (injuria). In practice it refers to actionable loss flowing from tort or delict, such as negligence, nuisance, trespass or breach of statutory duty, proved by establishing a wrong, causation and loss that is not too remote. Usage across the UK and Ireland is broadly consistent. In Scotland it is commonly encountered in the law of delict (Aquilian liability). In England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland the Latin is rarely used, but the concept underpins tort and civil liability. It is often contrasted with damnum sine injuria (loss without a legal wrong) and injuria sine damno (a wrong without provable loss, sometimes still actionable, for example in trespass). Practically, it informs pleadings and the assessment of recoverable heads of loss, marking the boundary between actionable damage and non-actionable loss (for example, pure economic loss where no duty of care is owed).