Assessment of Damages
The basic principle
The basic principle, and the starting point for the assessment of damages for breach of contract, is that stated by Lord Blackburn in Livingstone v Rawyards Coal Co (1880) 5 App Cas 25 at 29:
“... you should as nearly as possible get at that sum of money which will put the party who has been injured, or who has suffered, in the same position as he would have been in if he had not sustained the wrong for which he is now getting his compensation or reparation.”
This principle is still quoted with approval in most cases concerning damages for breach of contract today:
This is how the law will see it