Damage, Any loss, whether actionable as an injury or not. See DAMNUM ABSQUE INJURIA.
The expression 'damage' is not necessarily confined to physical damage. Ordinarily damage is caused by physical contact of the ship, such as in collision. But damage can also be caused to property by breach of contract or acts of commission or omission on the part of the carrier or his agents or servants by reason of the negligent operation and management of the vessel, as, for example, when cargo is damaged by exposure to weather or by negligent stowage, or, by the misconduct of those in charge of the ship, like when cargo is disposed of contrary to the instructions of the owner or by reason of theft and other misdeeds. In all these cases, damage arises by reason of loss caused by what is done by the ship or by the breach, negligence or misdeeds of those in charge of the ship. It must however be noticed that the expression 'damage done by any ship' has been construed by the English Courts as not to apply to claims against the carrying ship for damage done to cargo, M.V. Elisabeth v. Harwan Investment and Trading (P) Ltd., 1993 Supp (2) SCC 433: AIR 1993 SC 1014 (1038): (1992) 1 SCR 1003.
Means the specific damages, viz. the amount of damages sought to be claimed through the amendment, Hi Sheet Industrial v. Litelon Limited (FB), AIR 2007 Mad 78.
As defined by McGregor are the pecuniary compensation, obtainable by success in an action, for a wrong which is either a tort or a breach of contract, the compensation being in the form of a lump sum which is awarded unconditionally, Common Cause, a Registered Society v. Union of India, (1999) 6 SCC 667.
Is sufficiently wide in its meaning embrace injury, mischief or harm done to property, Samuels v. Stubbs, (1972) 4 SASR 200.
Means loss or harm, physical or economic, resulting from a wrongful act or default and generally leading to the award of a measure of compensa-tion. It includes the death of, or injury to, any person, including the impairment of physical or mental condition, Animals Act, 1971, s. 11 (U.K.).
A plurality of variants steaming out of a core concept is seen in such words as actual damages, civil damages, compensatory damages, consequential damages, contingent damages, continuing damages, double damages, excessive damages, exemplary damages, general damages, irreparable damages, pecuniary damages, prospective damages, special damages, speculative damages, substantial damages, unliquidated damages. But the essentials are (a) detriment to one by the wrong-doing of another (b) reparation awarded to the injured through legal remedies and (c) its quantum being determined by the dual components of pecuniary compensation for the loss suffered and often, not always, a punitive addition as a deterrent-cum-de-nunciation by the law, Organo chemical Industries v. Union of India, AIR 1979 SC 1803 (1808): (1979) 21 SCC 573.
Exemplary damage means certain categories of case in which an award of exemplary damages can serve a useful purpose in vindicating the strength of the law, and thus affording a practical justification for admitting into the civil law a principle which ought logically to belong to the criminal, Rookes v. Barnard, (1964) AC 1129.
Is to be contrasted with the element necessary to complete a cause of action; it includes all the detriment, physical, financial and social which the plaintiff suffers as the result of the tortious conduct of the defendant, Booth v. Phillips (QB), (2004) 1 WLR 3292.