law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, ''damnum absque injuria'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "loss or damage without injury") is the principle of

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

law in which some person (

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

) causes damage or loss to another, but does not injure them. Examples: * Opening a burger stand near someone else's may cause them to lose customers, but this in itself does not give rise to a

cause of action A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a ...

for the original burger stand owner. * Harassment of a person by physical contact may not cause injury, but may very well interfere with that person's purpose, which is a form of damage. Vehement physical contact with explicit verbal denial of permission constitutes a tort. A penal sum for damages can be applied nominally, preventing further damages to person.

Categories of ''damnum absque injuria''

Edward Weeks identified three categories of ''damnum absque injuria'': the absence of legal protection for some interests, the general limits to legal protection of interests, and the varying extent of legal protections of interests.

Absence of legal protection for some interests

Weeks and

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...

identified several interests that lacked legal protection altogether. At the time of Weeks' treatise, there was no legal protection for emotional distress unconnected to a physical injury. Holmes also cited the example of an

easement An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a propert ...

for light and air—if a neighbor built up a tall structure that overshadowed your house, you would have no legal remedy.

General limits to legal protection of interests

Weeks and Holmes also identified that there could be damage without legal remedy based on some doctrines that limited liability.

Contributory negligence In some common law jurisdictions, contributory negligence is a defense to a tort claim based on negligence. If it is available, the defense completely bars plaintiffs from any recovery if they contribute to their own injury through their own negl ...

, for example, could deprive a plaintiff of a legal remedy against a

negligent Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...

defendant.Singer, J. ''The Legal Rights Debate in Analytical Jurisprudence from Bentham to Hohfeld.'' 1982 Wisc. L. Rev. 975

Varying extent of legal protections of interests

Weeks and Holmes also recognized that there could be damage without legal remedy if the damage occurred outside the scope of protection for legally recognized interests.

Riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

owners, for example, could suffer damage from their neighbors upstream use of the water, but as long as the use was considered reasonable there would be no legal remedy.

Reference case

In ''John Rylands and Jehu Horrocks v Thomas Fletcher'' (1868) House of Lords L.R. 3 H.L. 330, the judgment of

Lord Cairns Hugh McCalmont Cairns, 1st Earl Cairns (27 December 1819 – 2 April 1885), was an Irish-born British statesman who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain during the first two ministries of Benjamin Disraeli. He was one of the most p ...

and

Lord Cranworth Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth, PC (18 December 1790 – 26 July 1868) was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Background and education Born at Cranworth, Norfolk, he wa ...

stated:https://www.informea.org/sites/default/files/court-decisions/Rylands%20vs%20Fletcher.pdf In the 1938 decision in ''Alabama Power Co. v. Ickes'' (302 U.S. 464), the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled:

References

{{Italic title Legal rules with Latin names