I move amendment No. 87 :
Before section 52, to insert the following new section :
" (1) (a) The damages under section 51 shall be—
(i) the total of such amounts (if any) as the jury or the judge, as the case may be, shall consider proportioned to the injury resulting from the death to each of the dependants, respectively, for whom or on whose behalf the action is brought, and
(ii) subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, the total of such amounts (if any) as the judge shall consider reasonable compensation for mental distress resulting from the death to each of such dependants.
(b) The total of any amounts awarded by virtue of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not exceed one thousand pounds.
(c) Each amount awarded by virtue of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be indicated separately in the award.
(d) Subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall have effect only in respect of a death occurring within three years after the date of the passing of this Act.
(2) In addition, damages may be awarded in respect of funeral and other expenses actually incurred by the deceased, the dependants or the personal representative by reason of the wrongful act.
(3) It shall be sufficient for a defendant, in paying money into court in the action, to pay it in one sum as damages for all the dependants without apportioning it between them.
(4) The amount recovered in the action shall, after deducting the costs not recovered from the defendant, be divided among the persons entitled in such shares as may have been determined."
It is proposed to substitute a new section for section 52 so as to allow for compensation for mental distress, or what is in the Scots law known as solatium or solatium doloris. The Government have agreed to allow damages for mental distress for a trial period of three years. It is proposed that the total of the amount awarded in any case will not exceed £1,000 and that each amount will be assessed by the judge and set out separately on the award. The provision can be examined in three years’ time having regard to the actual cases where damages for mental distress will have been awarded.
I think that this is a reasonable proposal. It will cover what is an unjust anomaly in the present law. A husband cannot recover damages for the loss of his wife even though she is killed by the grossest negligence of, say, a drunken driver, unless the husband can prove financial loss, which very often he may be unable to do. The Government are satisfied that this is most unfair where two married people have been living happily and comfortably together for years, but where, there being no economic dependancy, the death of one does not cause actuarial loss to the other. The mental distress suffered will, of course, have to be proved.
The figure of £1,000 is a generous one. It compares more than favourably with £750, which is, I understand, the top amount awarded in Scotland for solatium, and with £500, which has been said to be the maximum that will be awarded for loss of expectation of life or happiness in England.
As there is a specific limit on the amount and as it is desirable to have records of each case, the Government feel that for the trial period the judge and not the jury should assess the amount or amounts for mental distress in each case. The proposed provisions will be on trial and, if they work satisfactorily, they can be enshrined permanently in the law in a short and simple Act. It will be noted that the compensation for mental distress must be reasonable compensation and that this compensation will be a separate head of damages for the death.