Court case(1703) 2 Ld Raym 938

Matthew Ashby was a qualified burgess entitled to vote at a parliamentary election for the borough of Aylesbury. William White and the other defendants, the constables acting as returning officers, wrongfully refused to accept his vote. The candidate for whom Ashby wished to vote was elected all the same, so Ashby suffered no loss in money or in the result of the election. He sued the returning officers for damages for the wrongful refusal of his vote. A majority of the judges of the Court of King's Bench held that no action lay, because the plaintiff had suffered no damage and the matter concerned the privileges of Parliament. Holt CJ dissented. The case went on a writ of error to the House of Lords.

Holt CJ, dissenting in the King's Bench, held that the plaintiff had a legal right to vote and that its violation was actionable though no damage followed: "If the plaintiff has a right, he must of necessity have a means to vindicate and maintain it, and a remedy if he is injured in the exercise or enjoyment of it; and indeed it is a vain thing to imagine a right without a remedy; for want of right and want of remedy are reciprocal." He added that "every injury imports a damage, though it does not cost the party one farthing", because damage is not merely pecuniary; an injury to a right is itself a damage. The House of Lords reversed the judgment of the majority and upheld the view of Holt CJ, so that judgment was given for the plaintiff.