A sea captain had one of his able-bodied seamen severely beaten so that he became extremely ill and likely to continue so for the rest of his life. When the seaman brought an action, the defendant set up by way of defence and in mitigation of damage that he had been merely correcting the plaintiff for severe breaches of discipline.
Held: Lord Eldon said: ‘therefore the evil actually suffered in consequence of what was not justified ought to be compensated for in damages; that the jury should give damages to the extent of the evil suffered, without lessening them on account of the circumstances under which it was inflicted; that if they gave damages beyond a compensation for the injury actually sustained they would give too much, but that if they gave less they would not give enough.’
Lord Eldon
[1800] 2 Bosanauet and Pullen 224, [1800] 126 English Reports 1248
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – 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.
Updated: 30 August 2021; Ref: scu.258463