Loss

Diminution, reduction, depreciation, decrease in value; that which cannot be recovered.

The term loss is a comprehensive one, and relative, since it does not have a limited or absolute meaning. It has been used interchangeably with damage, deprivation, and injury.

In the law of insurance, a loss is the ascertained liability of the insurer, a decrease in value of resources, or an increase in liabilities. It refers to the monetary injury that results from the occurrence of the contingency for which the insurance was taken out.

Loss of earning capacity is an injury to an individual's ability to earn wages at a future time and may be recovered as an element of damages in a tort case.

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loss n. 1) the value placed on injury or damages due to an accident caused by another's negligence, a breach of contract or other wrongdoing. The amount of monetary damages can be determined in a lawsuit. 2) when expenses are greater than profits, the difference between the amount of money spend and the income. (See: damages)

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LOSS, contracts. The deprivation of something which one had, which was either advantageous, agreeable or commodious.
     2. In cases of partnership, the losses are in general borne by the partners equally, unless stipulations or circumstance's manifest a different intention. Story, Partn. Sec. 24. But it is not essential that the partners should all share the losses. They may agree, that if there shall be no profits, but a loss, that the loss shall be borne by one or more of the partners exclusively, and that the others shall, inter se, be exempted from all liabilities for losses. Colly. Partn. 11; Gow, Partn. 9; 3 M. & Wels. 357; 5 Barn. & Ald. 954 Story, Partn. Sec. 23.
     3. When a thing sold is lost by an accident, as by fire, the loss falls on the owner, res perit domino, and questions not unfrequently arise, as to whether the thing has been delivered and passed to the purchaser, or whether it remains still the property of the seller. See, on this subject, Delivery.