restitutio in integrum
This is the guiding principle for compensatory damages in tort: the plaintiff should be placed, so far as money can do it, in the position he would have been in had the tort not been committed. In contract the measure differs slightly: the plaintiff is put where he would have been had the contract been performed (expectation interest). In rescission, the term means each party returning what it received.
Indian courts apply the principle to motor accident and medical negligence claims, awarding pecuniary loss (medical costs, loss of earnings) and a just amount for non-pecuniary loss (pain, loss of amenities). Exact restoration is often impossible in personal injury, so the award is a fair approximation, not a windfall. In international law the term means restoring the situation that existed before a wrongful act, the first form of reparation in the Articles on State Responsibility.
Example
On the principle of restitutio in integrum, the tribunal awarded the injured claimant his lost earnings and medical expenses in full.
In Indian law
- Section 166, Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (compensation for motor accidents)
- Livingstone v. Rawyards Coal Co. (House of Lords, 1880): the classic statement of the principle
See also
damages · restitution · motor accident claim · exemplary damages
Read more in the study notes
- Remedies and remoteness of damage (Law of Torts)