This chapter discusses the general principles relating to the assessment of compensation for loss resulting from a civil wrong. Since courts and legislatures often lay down legal rules for a particular area of law, the assessment of compensation differs between areas. This is why Part 2 contains separate chapters for contract, tort, the Australian Consumer Law and equity. However, there are several commonalities between the areas, in particular, contract and tort. This chapter discusses the rules that are common to at least contract and tort. Most of them also apply in equity and under the Australian Consumer Law. Deviations from those rules in equity or under the Australian Consumer Law are discussed in the relevant chapters. This chapter also provides a brief introduction to those matters that differ between contract and tort. Comprehensive treatment is given to the date of assessment; even though there are significant differences between the causes of actions, there has been considerable convergence.

This chapter explores rules on compensation that are peculiar to cases involving personal injury or death. The wrongful act is usually a tort, but it may also be a breach of contract1 or a statutory wrong. It is assumed that the claim is not excluded by statute; some exclusions are mentioned. This chapter does not discuss rules on compensation that apply to personal injury as well as other types of harm. Those rules are discussed in Part 1 and in the other chapters of Part 2. Furthermore, this chapter, like the rest of Part 2, is concerned only with ‘normal’ compensation. Aggravated damages, which may be awarded in cases of personal injury (and other cases), are discussed in Ch 15.

This chapter considers the rules and principles that apply in relation to claims for compensation for personal injury and death resulting from a wrongful act such as a tort, a breach of contract or statutory wrong.

This chapter provides an overview of forensic mental health assessments in criminal, civil, and juvenile and family court settings. We begin with a general discussion of the nature and method of forensic assessment, highlighting the various data sources on which a forensic assessment is based and the hypothesis testing nature of the evaluation process. We then turn to an overview of the most common types of assessments conducted within the criminal forensic context (adjudicative competence, criminal responsibility, risk assessment and management), the civil forensic context (personal injury, disability determination, worker’s compensation), and the juvenile and family court contexts (parenting capacity, child custody, juvenile waiver to criminal court). Finally, we end with a general discussion of the importance of the written evaluation report.