LAW PROBLEM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 April 1941, Page 7

LAW PROBLEM

DAMAGES FOR SHORTENED LIFE A MOMENTOUS DECISION. VARYING CIRCUMSTANCES. Seven law lords applied themselves recently to solve a problem which has sorely perplexed judges for many years. There have been widely differing Court decisions on the question summed up in the phrase: "At what price can a man's future happiness be asesssed?” The momentous decision which was given lays down general prnciples for the guidance of judges in future in cases brought under the Law Reform Act of 1934. The House of Lords judgment was given by Lord Simon in what the "Daily Mail" describes as “an exposition not only of law but ol philosophy, and particularly the philosophy of Aristotle.” The decision is the final result in a- case of a boy killed in a car whose administrator was awarded £lOOO in the High Court by Mr. Justice Asquith. The judgment was upheld in 'the Appeal Court, and now the House cf Lords has given the final verdict. "The Times" in a leading article, hails it as an ■■illuminating judgment" and points out that since an action brought in 1931 a victim, in addition to the normal award of damages for pain and suffering due to personal injuries caused by an accident, has been able to claim lor any loss of expectation of life he can prove. The plaintiff whose case was responsible for establishing so important a legal j principle, “defeated medical opinion I by continuing to live long after he ought presumably to have been dead —and may still be alive." says '■The Time;:."

"But whatever damages are awarded for a shortened life, it is clear from even a brief consideration of the numberless and varying circumstances affecting the problem that it is impossible to lay ciown any principle for general application.

“Obviously life cannot be accurately valued in terms of pound, shillings and pence. Any attempt to do so would be pure conjecture. Nor would it be sound to argue that the younger the person the longer the expectation of life, and, therefore, the heavier the damages, since so much uncertainly surrounds the future cf the very young child. The mailer is loss incalctilablo, though still problematical, when a person lias reached an age to have settled prospects. What has to be determined, in fact, is a person's enjoyment of life, which, at best, can be but a-rough! guess. It is not a prospect of lengthy of days, but of a predominantly happy j life which has to be valued; not loss of pecuniary benefits, but of life itself, i

“As the Lord Chancellor pointed out the ups and downs of life, its pains and sorrows, as well as its joy's and pleasures —all that make up life's fitful fever —have to be allowed for in the estimate." Whatever may bo a proper sum. it is not to be greater because of social position, prospects and worldly possessions. since the degree of happiness to be attained by a human being does not depend on wealth or status.