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B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 2 Law of Torts 2021 Mar (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions - KSLU

KSLU Solved Question Papers

Law of Torts

Previous Year Question Paper with Solution

B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 2

2021 Mar (100 marks) Examination

munotes.in

Mumbai

First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.

Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.

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The Paper as Set

The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2021 Mar (100 marks) examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.

Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 13 questions answered

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Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.

Read the original question paper

Q1Explain the legal damage as an essential element of tort with the help of decided cases.[16]

Answer

For full marks, cover: the essentials of a tort and where legal damage fits (Jay Laxmi Salt Works); the meaning of "legal damage" as against actual loss; why the law protects rights rather than pockets; Part A, injuria sine damno, with cases (Ashby v. White, Marzetti v. Williams, Bhim Singh); Part B, damnum sine injuria, with cases (Gloucester Grammar School, Mogul Steamship, Bradford Corporation v. Pickles, Acton v. Blundell, Town Area Committee v. Prabhu Dayal, Ushaben); torts actionable per se and torts needing proof of damage; the effect on damages; a table; a conclusion.

Where legal damage fits

A tort has three essentials: a wrongful act or omission, legal damage resulting from it, and a legal remedy for it. In Jay Laxmi Salt Works (P) Ltd v. State of Gujarat, (1994) 4 SCC 1, the Supreme Court explained that tortious liability arises from the breach of a duty fixed by law and owed to persons generally. Legal damage is the link between the wrongful act and the plaintiff's right to sue.

What "legal damage" means

Legal damage does not mean loss of money or property. It means the violation of a legal right of the plaintiff. Two Latin words keep the ideas apart:

injuria, the infringement of a legal right; and
damnum, actual harm or loss, in money, health, comfort or property.

The law of torts is concerned with injuria. So a plaintiff succeeds if a legal right of his was violated, even without loss. He fails if he suffered loss but no right of his was violated. Actual loss is relevant to the amount of damages, not to whether a tort was committed.

Why the law protects rights, not losses

Rights must be enforceable. If a right could be ignored whenever its breach caused no loss, it would mean little. This is the maxim ubi jus ibi remedium: where there is a right, there is a remedy.
Not every loss is a wrong. Ordinary life is full of competition and conflicting uses of property. If all loss were actionable, lawful trade and the use of one's own land would be impossible.

Part A: Injuria sine damno (a right violated, no loss)

1. Ashby v. White (1703), as recounted by the Supreme Court in Lucknow Development Authority v. M.K. Gupta, AIR 1994 SC 787. A returning officer wrongfully refused to receive the vote of a qualified elector. The elector's candidate won anyway, so he lost nothing. The court applied ubi jus ibi remedium and decreed damages. The violation of his right to vote was itself the legal damage.

2. Marzetti v. Williams, (1830) 1 B & Ad 415. A banker refused to honour a customer's cheque, though he held enough of the customer's money. The customer could sue without proving any actual loss. His right to have the cheque paid had been violated.

3. Bhim Singh v. State of Jammu and Kashmir, AIR 1986 SC 494. A sitting member of the Legislative Assembly was arrested at 3 a.m. on his way to attend a session. He was then held for days without being produced before a magistrate, as the law required. The Supreme Court held that the police had acted deliberately and mala fide, and that his rights under articles 21 and 22(2) were grossly violated. He was already free on bail, yet the Court awarded him Rs. 50,000. The injury was the violation of liberty itself, not any loss of money.

Part B: Damnum sine injuria (loss without a violated right)

1. The Gloucester Grammar School case (1410), as recounted by the Karnataka High Court. A schoolmaster set up a rival school next door to the plaintiff's. Boys moved to the new school, and the plaintiff's fees fell sharply. No action lay. Competition, however damaging, violates no legal right.

2. Mogul Steamship Co. v. McGregor, Gow & Co., [1892] AC 25. Shipowners in the China tea trade formed an association, cut freight rates and offered rebates to drive a rival out. The rival lost heavily but failed. Competition by lawful means gives no cause of action.

3. Bradford Corporation v. Pickles, [1895] AC 587. Pickles sank shafts on his own land and cut off percolating water that fed the Corporation's reservoir. He was said to want to force the Corporation to buy his land. He was not liable. No one has a right to percolating water, so his motive did not matter.

4. Acton v. Blundell, (1843) 12 M & W 324. A landowner's well ran dry when his neighbour sank a coal pit on his own land, properly and without malice. No action lay.

5. Town Area Committee v. Prabhu Dayal, AIR 1975 All 132. The plaintiff built sixteen shops on old foundations without the sanction the law required. After notices, the Committee demolished them. The Allahabad High Court dismissed his claim. There is no right to enjoy property built unlawfully, so he suffered damage but no legal injury.

6. Ushaben v. Bhagyalaxmi Chitra Mandir, AIR 1978 Guj 13. Devotees sought to stop the screening of a film that, they said, hurt their religious feelings. The Gujarat High Court refused relief. Hurt feelings were not the violation of any legal right.

Torts actionable per se and torts needing proof of damage

Legal damage is always required, but in some torts actual damage must also be proved.

Actionable per se (no proof of loss needed): trespass to land, goods or the person, including assault, battery and false imprisonment; and libel.
Actual damage needed: negligence, nuisance (except where it is presumed), and slander in English law, except in certain cases.

Effect on damages

Where a right is violated without loss, the court may give nominal damages, a small sum marking the right.
Where the violation is serious, as with illegal detention, the court may give substantial or exemplary damages, as in Bhim Singh.
Where there is loss without a legal wrong, the plaintiff gets nothing, however great his loss.

Limits and criticism of the rule

Motive does not create a right. In Bradford Corporation v. Pickles the motive was said to be bad, yet there was no tort. A lawful act does not become a legal injury because it is done to cause loss. Critics say this lets a person harm a neighbour on purpose. The answer the law gives is that the remedy lies in creating a right by statute, not in punishing motive.
Malice matters in a few torts. Where malice is itself part of the tort, as in malicious prosecution, the plaintiff must prove it. These are exceptions fixed by the definition of the tort, not a general rule.

Nominal damages may be too small. A rupee of damages marks the right but may not deter a powerful wrongdoer. Indian courts have answered this in public law. In Rudul Sah v. State of Bihar, AIR 1983 SC 1086, Rudul Sah was kept in jail for more than fourteen years after his acquittal. The Supreme Court held that its power under article 32 includes awarding compensation, or the right to liberty would be a paper guarantee. It ordered the State of Bihar to pay Rs. 30,000 and left him free to sue for damages in the ordinary way.
The line between the two maxims moves with the law. A loss that is damnum sine injuria today can become actionable once a statute creates the right. So the student must first ask what right the law gives, not how much the plaintiff lost.

How to apply the rule to a problem

Find the right. Ask what legal right of the plaintiff is said to be affected: a right to vote, to property, to liberty, to reputation.
Ask whether it was violated. If yes, there is legal damage, and the tort is complete even without loss.
Ask whether the tort needs proof of actual damage. If it is actionable per se, the plaintiff need prove nothing more. If not, he must prove loss as well.

If there is only loss, stop. Loss caused by lawful competition or the lawful use of land is damnum sine injuria, and the claim fails.
Fix the damages. Nominal for a bare violation, substantial for real harm, and nothing for loss without a violated right.

Summary

Point	Injuria sine damno	Damnum sine injuria
Right violated?	Yes	No
Actual loss?	No	Yes
Actionable?	Yes	No
Damages	Nominal or more	None
Leading cases	Ashby v. White; Marzetti; Bhim Singh	Gloucester Grammar School; Mogul Steamship; Bradford Corporation

Conclusion. Legal damage is an essential element of every tort, and it means the violation of a legal right, not the loss of money. A violated right is actionable without loss, as in Ashby v. White and Bhim Singh. Loss without such a violation is not actionable, however heavy, as the Gloucester Grammar School case, Mogul Steamship and Bradford Corporation v. Pickles show. Actual loss affects only the amount of damages and, in a few torts, whether the action lies at all.

B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 2 Law of Torts 2021 Mar (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions

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