ABSTRACT
Damages is one of several remedies, which can be claimed by an injured party for breach of contract. It is a remedy available as of right when a contract has been broken, likewise when a tort has been committed against the injured party. Damages are monetary awards meant to compensate the injured party, and are generally based on the loss suffered by such party which was brought about by the breach of contract or commission of the tort, as the case may be. These settled principles seem to have brought about a trend in Nigeria, whereby litigants involved in contract litigation tend to classify the claim for damages into “special” and “general” damages, as it is done in tort.
Accordingly, this categorization is untenable, inept and has no bearing on the nature of damages in contract. The nexus between the law of contract and tort has mislead some litigants and judges into importing the categorization of damages in tort into the realm of contract. Consequently, in the law of contract, there is no dichotomy between special and general damages as is the position in tort. The narrow distinction often surmised is one without a difference. In contract, it is damages simpliciter for loss arising out of breach.
To this end the supreme courts, have gone to great lengths to admonish against such categorization, as would be seen in other cases, that would later be discussed and critically analysed in this work. However, on the other hand, some learned writers and judges persists in the categorization of damages in contract into “special” and ‘general” damages.
Moreover, learned judges and scholars fail to realize the difference between the object of damages in contract from that of tort. The object of damages in contract is ‘restitutio in integrum’ and not ‘restitutio in opuletium’. That is to put the injured party in the position he would have been if the contract had been satisfactorily performed, and not to give such injured party a windfall.
Thus in cases of breach of contract the term ‘general’ and ‘special’ damages are normally inept and emphasized that apart from damages naturally resulting from the breach, no other form of general damages can be contemplated.
