Aditya Chatterjee – BA021004

Injuria Sine Damnum and Damnum Sine Injuria

To understand these principles in the law of torts, we need to understand what these words
literally mean.

 Damnum or Damno means some sort of substantial harm, loss or damage with respect to
the money and health and so on.

 Injuria means an infringement of a right given by the law, i.e, a legal injury.

 Sine means without.

Damnum Sine Injuria

This legal maxim stands for damage without injury. This means that as long as no legal injury
has been caused to the plaintiff, any damage is not actionable. As long as somebody reasonably
exercises his own rights, and does not infringe upon another’s legal rights, this legal principle
will apply.

One of the most famous cases is that of the Gloucester Grammar School case. In this case, the
defendant used to work in the school of the plaintiff. The defendant thereafter left the school and
set up his own school, and many of the students left the school of the plaintiff to join the school
of the defendant. The plaintiff suffered monetary losses because of this, and he brought a suit
against the defendant. However, it was held that the plaintiff had no remedy available and the
defendant was not liable as he had not violated any specific legal right of the plaintiff.

Injuria Sine Damnum

Injuria sine damno is a violation of a legal right of someone without causing any harm, loss or
damage to that person. This means that while a legal right of an individual is being infringed
upon, that person is suffering no direct harm because of that violation. However, the very fact
that the legal right has been violated, is ground for holding the violator liable.

A landmark case here is that of Ashby v. White. In this case, the plaintiff was barred from
exercising his right to vote in an election. However, the party he wanted to vote for, won the
election regardless of that. The court said that the plaintiff is entitled to some remedy, as even
though he did not suffer any direct loss or damage, his legal right to vote had been infringed
upon, which was ground enough for holding the violators liable.