(High Court of Australia) The plaintiff struck the defendant with a weapon, a wooden T-square. It broke on his shoulder. The defendant then picked up a sharp piece of glass with which he was working and threw it at the plaintiff, causing him severe injury. The Judge had reduced the damages from andpound;2,850 to andpound;2,000 by reason of the provocation.
Held: Provocation could be used to wipe out the element of exemplary or aggravated damages but could not be used to reduce the actual figure of pecuniary compensation. So they increased the damages to the full andpound;2,850.
Judges:
Sir Owen Dixon CJ, McTiernan, Owen JJ
Citations:
[1962] 108 CLR 177, [1963] ALR 582, 36 ALJR 283, [1962] HCA 63
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Approved – Lane v Holloway CA 30-Jun-1967
In the context of a fight with fists, ordinarily neither party has a cause of action for any injury suffered during the fight. But they do not assume ‘the risk of a savage blow out of all proportion to the occasion. The man who strikes a blow of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Commonwealth, Torts – Other
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.258462