Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I want to make it clear to judges that they are expected to have regard to the contents of this Book of Quantum, that it is their legal duty to have regard to it and to consult it. I do not want a price list that is invariable in every case which counsel could consult and say a case is worth a given amount and that is it. Injuries vary from case to case, for example, a broken ankle can be very serious or less so.

It is beyond the wit of man and woman to devise an exact scale of damages in these matters. Early legal systems attempted to do it. In ancient Rome a man discovered that the liquidated damages for assault under Roman law had been rendered ridiculous by inflation so he went around striking people in the face and directing his slave to hand them the sum that was in the book of quantum in that system. That was the end of the matter.

This is a major new step. It would be unlawful for a court to decide damages without having regard to the Book of Quantum, but it would not be unlawful to deviate from it. The High Court, on appeal from the Circuit Court, would be in a position to ask why was there a departure from the Book of Quantum and if there were grounds to justify it. It is an effort to bring consistency but not uniformity into the application of the law.