VALUE OF LIFE
COURT DECLINES ESTIMATE. LONDON', January 12. The Court of Appeal declined a request yesterday to set a scale of damages for loss of expectation of life, Lord Justice Scott staling: “The problem set Ihe courts id tins country is one of quite extraordinaiy difficulty, but it is not for the judges to lay down in advance ’anything approximating a scale of the financial value of life, and I do not propose to make ihe attempt.’’ A general disquisition on the value of life would be a. dangerous and wrong course, he added. The only safe course was to leave the question to juries under the direction of judges. The case was an appeal by an unemployed miner, William Ellis, oi Ryhope, co. Durham, and his wife, whom a jury had awarded .£125 for the death of their seven-year-old son. Derek. He was knocked down by a car. Mr. Russell Vick, K.C., for the parents, said that although a. claim was made under the Law Reform Act, 1934, for loss of expectation of life, the jury awarded nothing under that bead. Lord Justice Scott said the case would have to go back for re-trial, but only so far as the assessment, of damages was concerned. Lord Justice MacKinnon and Lord Justice Goddard agreed.
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Greymouth Evening Star, 9 March 1939, Page 8
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215VALUE OF LIFE Greymouth Evening Star, 9 March 1939, Page 8
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