- remoteness
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A principle used in determining an award of damages in contract or tort.In contract, the test of remoteness is that set out in Hadley v Baxendale ([1854] 9 Ex 341). Under this test, the claimant will be able to recover:• Losses arising naturally, according to the normal course of things, from the breach of contract itself; or• Such loss as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of the parties at the time they made the contract, as a probable result of the breach.In tort, the test of remoteness is that the damage must be "reasonably foreseeable" (Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd, The Wagon Mound [1961] AC 388). This has been interpreted as meaning that a particular type of damage could be recoverable if foreseeable provided that it was not "far-fetched". In tort, the defendant will be liable for any type of damage which is reasonably foreseeable as liable to happen even in the most unusual case unless the risk is so small that a reasonable man would in the whole circumstances feel justified in neglecting it (Heron II [1969] 1 AC 350).Related links
Practical Law Dictionary. Glossary of UK, US and international legal terms. www.practicallaw.com. 2010.