Damnum Absque Injuria

A loss or damage without injury.

There are cases when the act of one man may cause a damage or loss to another, but for which the latter has no remedy. He is then said to have received damnum absque injuria. For example, if a man should set up a school in the neighborhood of another school, and by that means, deprive the former of its patronage; or if a man should build a mill along side of another, and consequently reduce its business.

Another instance may be given of the case where a man excavating for a foundation with proper care and diligence, injures the adjoining house due to the unsuitable materials used in such house; here the injury is damnum absque injuria.

When a man slanders another by publishing the truth, the person slandered is said to have sustained loss without injury.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.