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No win, no fee claims - a 4,000 year evolution
From some of the hysterical media coverage of the no win, no fee compensation claims of the 21st century you could be forgiven for thinking that the notion of monetary compensation paid out for injuries sustained in accidents is a new and controversial one.
Even the simplest survey of the history of compensation systems reveals any such notion to be completely untrue.
Workplace compensation has existed in some form or another for at least 4,000 years. In fact, pretty much as soon as man could write, he wrote about some of the complexities involved in systems of work injury compensation.
The law of Ur-Nammu, king of Sumer around 2050 BC, written down on Nippur Tablet No. 3191, details a system of work injury compensation that was paid out to workers who became injured throughout the course of their jobs.
Like many ancient, and indeed modern compensation systems, it listed specific amounts to be paid out for injuries to particular areas of the body.
Another significant document detailing the history of compensation is Hammurabi's Code, written on a stele in Babylon in 1750 BC, it also listed compensatory measures for specific injuries or illnesses. While being a landmark development in the history of personal injury compensation, it was also much more punitive, brutal even, than today's standards would allow. This is most notably reflected in its use of the Lex Talionis philosophy, or, as we would recognise it today, "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth".
Yet these two are not the only early systems of compensation. The ancient Arabs, Chinese, Greeks and Romans all also had injury-specific damages laws. The Romans formulated a legal definition of a "whole person", valuing compensation to be paid out for partial disabilities against this notional "whole".
As such, the loss of a body part like a tooth would be valued at somewhere around 5% the value of the "whole person".
The Arabs had a similar approach, but with subtle differences. Although theirs might seem like a crude system now, it was actually, within the historical context, a very enlightened system, valuing things like the loss of an ear by the amount of surface area lost, or the loss of a penis by the amount of length lost.
Unfortunately, as with so many other aspects of life, compensation systems suffered during the Middle Ages. Although feudal lords did, in theory, have obligations to their serfs, the principle of noblesse oblige was often found wanting, with lords arbitrarily paying out compensation to injured workers.
It is no coincidence that it was only the Age of Enlightenment that resurrected a just compensatory system, with the apogee of its evolution coming in the form of the no win, no fee agreement, one which provides access to civil redress for all, regardless of financial circumstance.
