Damages

LAYING, pleading. In personal and mixed: actions, (but not in penal actions, for obvious reasons,) the declaration must allege, in conclusion, that the injury is to the damage of the plaintiff; and must specify the amount of damage. Com. Dig. Pleader, C 84; 10 Rep. 116, b. In personal. actions there is a distinction between actions that sound in damages, and those that do not; but in either of these cases, it is equally the practice to lay damages. There is, however, this difference, that, in the former case, damages are the main object of the suit, and are, therefore, always laid high enough to cover the whole demand; but in the jatter the liquidated debt, or the chattel demanded, being the main object, damages are claimed in usually laid at a small sum. The plaintiff cannot recover greater damages than he has laid in the conclusion of his declaration. Com. Dig. Pleader; C. 84; 10 Rep. 117, a,b; Vin. Ab. Damages, R. In real actions, no damages are to be laid, because, in these, the demand is specifically for the land withheld, and damages are in no degree, the object of the suit. Steph. Pl. 426; 1 Chit. Pl. 397 to 400.