A look at recent changes in British damages rules

Damages for breach of contract in the U.K. are a little more—well, flexible, than they used to be.  In a recent article in Legal Week, barrister Thomas Keith takes a look at two cases that in recent years have changed the face of British damages law.

The first is the 2001 decision in Attorney General v. Blake, where the House of Lords came up with a new restitutionary remedy to award the government royalties in a case involving breach of the Official Secrets Act.  The second is the 2002 decision in Farley v. Skinner, in which the Lords awarded monetary damages for a homeowner’s discomfort, even though the breach of contract at issue had not resulted in any pecuniary loss.