Definition
Non-quantifiable loss.
Damages presumed to flow from wrong.
Etymology & Origin
From Latin 'generalis' (relating to a genus or class, universal), from 'genus' (kind, class, sort). 'General' in this legal sense denotes that which belongs to the whole class — damages that flow universally from a wrong of that type, as opposed to the 'special' or particular losses of an individual claimant. General damages are those the law infers from the nature of the wrong itself, without requiring specific proof of each item.
Full Legal Analysis
General Damages: Loss Presumed by the Law
Where a wrong is of a kind that necessarily causes harm — a physical injury that inevitably brings pain, a libel that inevitably wounds reputation, a breach of contract that inevitably disrupts commercial expectations — the law does not require the claimant to prove that harm was in fact suffered. The harm is presumed. General damages are the sum awarded for this presumed loss: the loss that flows so naturally and necessarily from the wrong that the law infers it from the nature of the act itself.
The Categories of General Damages
General damages encompass the non-quantifiable, intangible heads of loss that resist precise calculation. The principal categories are: (a) pain and suffering — the physical discomfort and mental anguish caused by an injury; (b) loss of amenity — the deprivation of the pleasures and capacities of life that the injury has caused (the loss of the ability to walk, to see, to enjoy a hobby); (c) loss of reputation in defamation, where the harm to good name is presumed from the publication; (d) mental distress and inconvenience in appropriate cases. These losses are real, but they cannot be totted up on a bill; the court must assess a reasonable sum that reflects, in money terms, the gravity and duration of the harm.
Assessment Without Arithmetical Precision
The assessment of general damages is an exercise in judgment, not arithmetic. The court considers the nature and severity of the injury, its duration (temporary or permanent), its impact on the claimant's life, the claimant's age and circumstances, and — in personal-injury cases — judicial guidelines and comparable awards. The sum must be fair to both parties: sufficient to reflect the harm, not so high as to be punitive (unless exemplary damages are separately awarded). The procedural advantage of general damages is that they need not be specifically pleaded; the claimant need only establish the wrong, and the law does the rest by presuming the loss. Indian courts routinely award general damages in tort, contract, and consumer cases, drawing on common-law principles and the discretion vested in the trial judge.
“Some losses are beyond the accountant's art — the sleepless nights, the lost dignity, the pleasures foreclosed by an injury. These the law calls general damages: the harm that needs no itemised bill because the wrong itself speaks it. The court, in awarding them, does what money can never fully do — it translates suffering into recognition.”
