Restitutio ad integrum (To be made whole again)
In a legal sense, “damages” refers to monetary compensation that is claimed by a person or awarded by a court in a civil action to a person who has been injured or suffered loss because of the wrongful conduct of another party.
“The general principles underlying our system of damages suggest that a plaintiff should receive full and fair compensation, calculated to place him or her in the same position as he or she would have been in had the tort not been committed, insofar as this can be achieved by a monetary award”.
“This principle suggests that in calculating damages under the pecuniary heads, the measure of the damages should be the plaintiff’s actual loss.”
Ratych v. Bloomer, (1990) 1 S.C.R. 940 at para. 71, per McLachlin J. – see also Livingstone v. Raywards Coal Co. (1911) A.C. 301 at 307 (P.C.).