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Mansi Aggarwal   27 February 2021

Statutory authority

X rail company laid down tracks over the land of Y. One day, the sparks from the train set fire to the woods belonging to Y. This caused a great loss to Y. He filed a case against the railway company. Will he be able to claim damages?


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 1 Replies

Kevin Moses Paul   27 February 2021

As per your query, I would like to bring into your kind notice that they're are three essential elements that tends to constitute a tort.

These elemets are as follows:-
# A Wrongful act or omission,
# Duty imposed by the law.
# The act must give rise to legal or actual damage.

It should be of such a nature that it should give rise to a legal remedy in the form of an action for damages.

Now, before we carry on any further let me explain the concept of terms 'damange' and 'damages'.
The term “damages” is often confused with the term “damage”, while they may look similar, they have different meanings and are significantly distinct from each other, “damages” refers to the compensation sought for, while “damage” refers to actual loss or injury.

Now, the doctrine of Damnum sine injuria would imply.
The doctrine of Damnum Sine Injuria refers or translates to damage without injury, here the party affected suffers damage which may also be physical but suffers no infringement of their legal rights. In other words, it means the occurrence of an actual and substantial loss to a party without any infringement of a legal right.

Here no action lies in the hands of the plaintiff as there is no violation of a legal right.

But, here the situation totally depends upon circumstances whether the railroad company 'X' took proper legal permission from 'Y' for the construction.

In case of absence of any proper permission from the owner 'Y', the railroad company would be held liable for compensation of the loss incurred by 'X',. as the construction in itself is illegal and the railroad company could be sued for Trespass.

Thus, the compensation will be awarded by the took, by looking at the matter on whether the owner of the land 'Y' gave his consent for such a construction to railroad company 'X' or not.

If the consent is found missing, then 'Y' would be able to get the compensation for the loss incurred by him.

Hope It Helps

Regards
Kevin M. Paul

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