The
legal regime for the assessment of contractual loss depends on the role
attributed to damages. The review of this regime is carried out in two parts.
Firstly it demonstrates that compensation for a loss – which is the first
function of damages – is intended to satisfy, to the extent that money allows
this, the interest which the claimant had in the performance of the contract
(the positive interest or expectation interest). Since the satisfaction of such
interest is the primary, if not exclusive, objective, the review thereafter
considers the means of achieving this, and examines in turn, with the support
of real examples, the methods and timing of loss assessment.