Legal Term: DAMNUM ABSQUE INJURIA

Definition: A loss or damage without injury. 2. There are cases when the act of one man may cause a damage or loss to another, and for which the latter has no remedy, he is then said to have received damnum absque injuria, as, for example, if a man should set up a school in the neighborhood of another school,and, by that means, deprive the former of its patronage, or if a man should build a mill along side of another, and consequently reduce his custom. 9 Pick. 59, 528. 3. Another instance may be given of the case where a man using proper care and diligence, while excavating for a foundation, injures the adjoining house, owing to the unsuitable materials used in such house, here the injury is damnum absque injuria. 4. When a man slanders another by publishing the truth, the person slandered is said to have sustained loss without injury. Bac. Ab. Actions on the Case, C Danes Ab. Index, h. t.

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