A

PROJECT REPORT

ON

REMEDIES IN TORTS WITH SPECIAL REFRENCE TO

REMOTENESS OF DAMAGE

In Partial Fulfillment of Requirement for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF BUISNESS ADMINISTRATION

IN

BBA. LLB.

1ST Semester

2019-20

Submitted by: Submitted To:

Vipul Solanki Dr. Abhay Purohit

 Acknowled
gement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to
my teacher as well as our Principal who gave me this
golden opportunity to do this wonder full project on the
topic, which also helped me in doing a lot of research
and I came to know about so many new things.

Secondly, I would like to thank, my parents and friends

who helped mea lot in finalizing this project within the
limited time frame.

-Vipul Solanki
 Certificate
This is to certify that “Vipul Solanki” the student
of class BBA LLB successfully completed his
project on Remedies in torts with special
reference to remoteness of damage under the
guidance of “Dr. Abhay Purohit”.

-Dr. Abhay Purohit

 Index
1. Torts
(i) Meaning
(ii) Definition
(iii) Tort and Crime Distinguished.
(iv) Tort and Contract Distinguished
2. Remoteness of Damage
(i) The problem of Remoteness
(ii) Remoteness and proximate Damage
(iii) General Illustrations
3. Case Laws
 TORT

Meaning
The word tort has been derived from the Latin term ’tortum’,
which means 'to twist’. Thus, "tort" means "a conduct which is
not straight or lawful, but, on the other hand, hoisted, crooked or
unlawful." It is equivalent to the English term 'wrong'. The Law of
Torts consists of various 'torts’ or wrongful acts whereby the
wrongdoer violates some legal right vested in another person.
The law imposes a duty to respect the legal rights vested in the
members of the society and the person making a breach of that
duty is said to have done the wrongful act. As ‘crime’ is a
wrongful act, which results from the breach of a duty recognized
by criminal law, a ’breach of contract‘ is the non-performance of
a duty undertaken by a party to a contract, similarly, ’tort’ is a
breach of duty recognized under the law of torts. For example,
violation of a duty not to injure the reputation of someone else’
results in the tort of defamation; violation of a duty not to interfere
with the possession of land of another person results in the tort
of trespass to land; and, the violation of a duty not to defraud
another results in the tort of deceit.

Definition

Some of the important definitions, which indicate the nature of

this branch of law; are as under:

1. "Tort means a civil wrong which is not exclusively a breach

of contract breach of trust"-S. 2(m), the Limitation Act,
1963
 2. "It is a civil wrong for which the remedy is a common law
for unliquidated damages and which is not exclusively the
breach of a contract or the breach of a trust or other merely
equitable obligation." -Salmond.
3. "It is an infringement of a right in rem of a private individual
giving a right of compensation at the suit of the injured
party”-Fraser.

The nature of a tort can be understood by

distinguishing

(1) Tort and Crime

(2) Tort and duty in other civil cases, viz., a
Contract, a Trust and Quasi-contract.

Tort and Crime distinguished

(i) The wrongs which are comparatively less serious are

considered to be private wrongs and have been labeled
as civil wrongs, whereas more serious wrongs have
been considered to be public wrongs and are known as
crimes.
(ii) Since tort is considered to be a private wrong, the
injured party himself has to file a suit as a plaintiff. If, at
any stage, the injured party likes. He may agree to a
compromise with the tortfeasor and withdraw the suit
filed by him. In the case of crime, on the other hand,
even though the immediate victim is an individual, the
criminal wrong is considered to be a public wrong i.e., a
wrong against the public at large or wrong against the
State. The criminal proceedings against the wrongdoer
are, therefore, not brought by the injured party but by
the State.3 Moreover, except in certain exceptional
 cases,‘ the law does not permit a settlement in criminal
cases between the wrongdoer and aggrieved party
and, thus, the compounding of an offence is, as a
general rule; considered to be unlawful.
(iii) In the case of tort, the ends of justice are met by
awarding compensation to the injured party. In the case
of crime, the wrongdoer is punished. The idea of
awarding compensation to the injured party under civil
law is to make good the lose suffered by him. The
Punishment under criminal law protects the society by
preventing the offender from committing further
offences and deterring him and other potential
offenders from committing wrongs.

Tort and Breach of Contract distinguished

(i) A breach of contract results from the breach of a duty
undertaken any one of these duties, but A breach of
contract results from the breach of a duty undertaken
by the parties themselves. The agreement, the violation
of which is known as a breach of contract is made by
the parties with their tree consent. A tort, on the other
hand, results from the breach of such duties which are
not undertaken by the parties themselves but which are
imposed by law. For example, I have a duty not to
assault or defame any one, or to commit nuisance or
trespass over another person’s land, not because I
have voluntarily because the law imposes such duties
on me, or rather on every member of the society. The
breach of these duties, imposed by law, is a tort. But if I
undertake to supply you a radio set and then fail to
perform the Obligation which I have voluntarily
undertaken, it is a breach of contract.
(ii) In a contract, the duty is based on the privity of contract
and each Party owes duty only to the other contracting
party. If A and B make a contract, A’s duty is towards B
and B only; similarly, B does not owe any duty in
respect of this contract to any person other than A.
 That is why we find the rule that stranger to a contract
cannot sue.
(iii) Damages is the main remedy both in an action for the
breach of contract as well as in an action for tort. In a
breach of contract, the damages may be ’liquidated’
whereas in an action for tort, they are always
’unliquidated’. Damages are liquidated when the sum
payable by way of damages is predetermined, for
example, by a clause in the contract. When the amount
payable is not predetermined and inelastic sum of
money, but the court is at liberty to award such sum at
its discretion as it thinks just, the damages are known
as 'unliquidated’.
 REMOTENESS OF DAMAGE
The Problem of Remoteness

After the commission of a tort, the question of defendant’s

liability arises. The consequences of a wrongful act may be
endless or there may be consequences of consequences. For
example, a cyclist negligently hits a pedestrian who was carrying
a bomb in his pocket. When the pedestrian is knocked down, the
bomb explodes. The pedestrian and four other persons going on
the road die and twenty other persons are severely injured due
to the explosion. A building nearby is engulfed in fire due to the
same explosion and some women and children therein are
severely injured. The question is can the cyclist be liable for all
these consequences?

He is liable only for those consequences which are not too

remote from his conduct. No defendant can be made liable ad
infinitum for all the consequences which follow his wrongful act.
On practical grounds, a line must be drawn somewhere, and
certain kinds or types of losses, though a direct result of
defendant’s conduct, may remain uncompensated. As Lord
Wright has said :

"The Law cannot take account of everything that

follows a wrongful act; it regards some subsequent
matters as outside the scope of its selection, because
it were infinite for the law to judge the causes of
causes, or consequences of consequences. In the
varied web of affairs the law must abstract some
consequences as relevant, not perhaps on ground of
pure logic but simply for practical masons."
Remote and Proximate Damage
How and where is such a line to be drawn? To answer this
question we are to see whether the damage is too remote a
consequence of the wrongful act or not . If that is too remote, the
defendant is not liable, If, on the other hand, the act and the
consequences are so connected that they are not too remote but
are proximate that the event which is immediately connected
with the consequences are proximate and that further from it is
too remote.

There are two main tests to determine whether the damage is

remote or not:

(1) The test of reasonable foresight

If the consequences of a wrongful act could be foreseen by a
reasonable man, then they are not too remote. If on the other
hand, a reasonable man could not have foreseen the
consequences, then they are too remote. And, an individual shall
be liable only for the consequences which are not too remote i.e.
which could be foreseen.

(2) The test of directness

According to the test of directness, a person is liable for all the
direct consequences of his wrongful act, whether he could foresee
them or not; because consequences which directly follow a
wrongful act are not too remote.
General Illustrations
A person is going driving on a road, he hits a girl on the footpath,
the girl tumbles on a bicycle breaks her finger, the bicycle man
loses his balance and gets in front of a fuel tanker, the tanker to
save the man on the bicycle steers left but unfortunately hits the
railing to a river bridge and falls into it , the lock of the fuel tank
breaks and the oil spills into the river , the driver with the truck
drowns.

In the above case:

1. The girl being hit is the direct damage and it is the direct
damage caused by the act of A
2. The damage caused to the cyclist is proximately caused by
the falling of the girl and is remote to the act of A
3. The damage caused to the truck driver and the loss of
material (fuel and fuel tank) is remote to the act of A and
proximate to the act of the cyclist. And it is to be noted that
the accountability to negligence is made on the assumption
that the person is aware of the fact that rash driving can
lead to fatalities. (Though the expected and the actual
results might not be the same).
https://www.legalbites.in/remoteness-of-damages/