An interim interdict having been granted upon a Note of suspension and interdict, and the Note having been passed, such interdict subsists until the Note is finally disposed of, i.e., until the Lord Ordinary has pronounced an interlocutor disposing of the Note and the days for reclaiming thereagainst have expired without a reclaiming note being taken, or if a reclaiming note be taken thereagainst, until the Inner House has pronounced judgment upon such reclaiming note.
Where the Court of Session, without setting forth the way in which the figure has been arrived at, has awarded a sum as damages for wrongous interdict, and it does not appear that any wrong principle of law has been applied to the facts of the case, the House of Lords will treat the matter as a jury question and will not disturb the award save on some very strong ground.
Per Lord Collins-‘In my opinion the wrongdoer must take his victim talem qualem, and if the position of the latter is aggravated because he is without the means of mitigating it, so much the worse for the wrongdoer, who has got to be answerable for the consequences flowing from his tortious act. On the other hand the victim, being in fact a poor man, is not entitled to claim damages in respect of lost opportunities which he could not have utilised unless he had been rich.
‘I think the wrongdoer is not entitled to criticise the course honestly taken by the injured person on the advice of his experts, even though it should appear by the light of after events that another course might have saved loss. The loss he has to pay for is that which has actually followed under such circumstances upon his wrong.
I am at a loss to see what bearing’ malice in obtaining the interdict ‘has on the actual facts of this case. It is not essential to the cause of action, which rests on the grant of the interdict on caution, and therefore I think it is not a case for exemplary or punitive as distinguished from compensatory damages.
Judges:
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lord Ashbourne, Lord James of Hereford, Lord Robertson, and Lord Collins
Citations:
[1907] UKHL 669, 44 SLR 669
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Litigation Practice
Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.622295