Damnum

Lat In the civil law. Damage; the loss or diminution of what is a man's own, either by fraud, carelessness, or accident.

In pleading and old English law. Damage ; loss.

— Damnum fatale. Fatal damage; damage from fate ; loss happening from a cause beyond human control, (quod ex fato contingit,) or an act of God, and for which bailees are not liable; such as shipwreck, lightning, and the like. Dig. 4, 9, 3, 1; Story, Bailm. § 465. The civilians included in the phrase "damnum fatale" ali those accidents which are summed up in the common-law expression. "Act of God or public enemies;" though, perhaps, it embraced some which would not now be admitted as occurring from an irresistible force. Thickstun v. Howard, 8 Blackf. (Ind.) 535.

— Damnum infectum. In Roman law. Damage not yet committed, but threatened or impending. A preventive interdict might be obtained to prevent such damage from happening; and it was treated as a quasi-delict, because of the imminence of the danger.

— Damnum rei amissæ. In the civil law. A loss arising from a payment made by a party in consequence of an error of law. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 178.