An Address on COMPENSATION FOR INJURY
Authors: V. W. Low
Journal: BMJ (1930)

RAILWAY COM'tk'NY.a vet-r early stage of civilization thteie appeared to be a feelin-g amon-gst imen tht'st sonle sort of amen-ds shiouild be made to the injured partt for an iinjuryv wViuantonly inflicted.Many centuries lhad to pass before this idea also inicluided accidenital injuries.In Exoduis xxi, 18, 191 we read:" Anid if nmeni strive togethler, anid one smite another witlh a stonie, or with his fist, anid lie die ollO, but keepeth iiis bed If lie iise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, tllenI slhall lie tlhat smote him be quit : oilv lie slhall pay for the loss Of Iiis timiie, anid shall cause hiim to be thoroughlly healed."There von have the special damages, htut not muchl for " paini and suffering."T'len follow a few verses where other special forms of damiage are mentioned, and, finally (verses 24 and 25), a sort of schedule of compensation:"Eye for eye, toothi for tooth, hand for lhand, foot for foot, burning for burning, stripe for stripe."And in Leviticus xxiv, 20: ".As lie hat-h cauised a blemislh ini a man, so slhall it be done to him again."Thtere is in all this a good deal of that vengeful spirit whiclh is lather clharacteristic of the 01(O Testam-tent.No dotubt for a long while ill the world's history comi- pensation lay cliefly-in the direction of reparation for aan iltelltiollal injury-a sort of business-like.compronmise for an act of revenige.Tlele there followed the rewards for militarv service, particullarly when the soldier hnad been wounded, and(l this gradually developed inito the idea that a man who ad been disabled by military serviie had somi!e sort of claim-l for miiailltenanice oii those in wlsose service the hluirt had been sustained.Btut in all the.se examluples th1e pliialties vewres exacted for inljuries inflicted iiiteiutioniallv, anld it wa.sani entirely new priinciple in law, at any sate in this couintr-v-and I believe that this 4county has uisuially beeni tlhe pioleer ill these lilatters1-when in 1846 Lor dCamiphbell's Fa'tal Accidenits Act wx as passed, whicll gave a -riglht of action for' CoiilpeniSatioll to the families of lpersonlls w Ito are hiilled by the nleoligenice of others.AWlOR£KMEN S COMPENSATT1oN ACTS.W as a p)ofes.sioilare concernlled oilv in the use of the termi " colnlpellsation " in connexion withi persollal injuries, either in whlat are kniown as commilon law cases, but more particularlv, because of their numbers, in connexion with cases unl-der tile Workmien's CompensatioR Acts.It is in tllese cases that the respon-sibility is tlhrowin on our shoulders of gi-ving advice as to the extent of the-'damage and the amiiotunit and duration of tlhe disabilityv caused thereby.Probably this is one of the nsost difficult, aiid tliainkleas tasks ever imposed oni any profession.It involves, ill the first p)lacc, a ver y accuriiate diagnosis, a difficult enioulgh ta:sk in itself, but re1idered noise the less easy bv the intenlse (lesire on the past(of the patieent that the damiiag,e doine to biin should niot be underestimated, ntor thlat anty l'tlhological peculiarity or blemish foulnd' oln limll slhould be (lissociated from-l the aecident.Prognosis, alwlays a tlhorniy probleimi, is, in these cases, ofteni comiiplicated by the patienit's apprclhension that lie isia' be gettitig wvell too quickly, or that the doctor is takinig too chleerful a view of h-is case.T'here is al-ways the feeling, either latenit or openlv expressed, that the tritlsgeessor mus yanst Pay, and must pay w-ell, till I sometimees wonder w-hletlher that old spirit of revenge is entiierly confinied to the Old Testament.cefteriallv it cail be said that the greater tlse injuiry tlhe less tlle difficuklty inasenssing the-dansagg-e the.patierit is theno too ill aiid too crippled1N FOR INJURY.