A Critique on the Jurisprudential Basis and Legal Necessity of the Doctrine of Mitigation of Damages

The rule of prevention of damage is derived from the system of common law, and according to it, a person who suffers from a violation of law or contract is obliged to take conventional measures to prevent the creation or spread of damage. This rule is based on the logical concept of "causation relationship". However, in Imami jurisprudence, various rules such as waste, glorification, principle of vizr (load of sin), principle of qurūr and action have been extracted from the concept of "causation relationship" proportionate to the different facets of the causation relationship, which, considering the involvement of the injured party in increasing his loss, the rule of action should be used as the jurisprudential basis to prevent damage. The necessity of adapting and applying the rule of preventing damage in the legal system of our country is limited to special cases in contractual liability. That is, only in the cases of receiving damages due to termination of the contract (Article 239 of Civil law) and fulfillment of the commitment by the obligee at the cost of the obligor (Article 222 of Civil law), it is possible to speak of the injured party dealing with the damage. In terms of non-contractual responsibility, although specifying the rule of preventing damage will bring more harmony in the judgments of the courts, but according to the basis of responsibility in Imami jurisprudence, which is the ability to attribute damage to the cause of damage, it does not accompany a new effect that the general rules of civil liability would lack.