general damages

general damages

n. monetary recovery (money won) in a lawsuit for injuries suffered (such as pain, suffering, inability to perform certain functions) or breach of contract for which there is no exact dollar value which can be calculated. They are distinguished from special damages which are for specific costs, and from punitive (exemplary) damages for punishment and to set an example when malice, intent, or gross negligence was a factor. (See: damages)

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general damages

in English law, that damage that is assumed to flow from torts actionable per se, like loss of reputation in a libel action, and that thus need not be specially pled. This is in opposition to special damage, which is damage that requires to be proved where it is essential to the tort, as in negligence actions. There is a secondary sense of using these two terms. Special damages can mean ‘specific easily identified and specified losses’, and general damages, ‘an unquantified sum in respect of imponderables’.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006