Law of Torts-I (Final Term)

Week 4: DISCHARGE OF TORTS

Session 3

7. Judgement Recovered:

The last mode to terminate or discharge a tort is called, ‘Judgement Recovered’. You are
allowed by law to enforce your right once. The law does not permit you to enforce your right
time and again for the same cause of action. So, once you have enforced your right and the
court pronounces a judgement and issues a decree in your favour and the decree is executed.
The court recovers and delivers you compensation, this is called ‘Judgement Recovered’.
Recovering compensation through court, thus bars you from enforcing your right for the second
time for the same cause of action. This operates as the discharge or termination of tort.

On the basis of the above, there will not lie more than one action on the same cause of action.
To this rule, there are following exceptions.

1. When the same cause of action violates two distinct rights, you can enforce your right
more than once. For example, in a car accident, there is damage to the car of a non-
faulty-driver, and he suffers personal injuries too. He recovers damages, in the first suit,
for the harm to his car. Later on, he sues again for his personal injuries. The court will
entertain his suit because two distinct rights have been violated through the same cause
of action – damage to his car and damage to his body.

2. In cases of continuing trespass, there will lie continuing action. It is based upon the
principle of ‘de die in diem’. Action de die in diem is a Latin term. It means ‘from day to
day.’ In early days, the term was used to refer to an action occurring from day to day. It
referred to a continuing right of action. For example, if a person wrongfully places
something on another person’s land and leaves it there, that act is not a single act of
trespass. Instead, is a continuing action giving rise to fresh cause of action de die in
diem.

3. In cases of continuing nuisance, there will lie continuing action. If someone is creating
nuisance in continuation, there will lie more than one action.