Damnum fatale
Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Black's Law Dictionary
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.