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I often find the phrase "issue of quantum of" in the rulings made by the U.S courts like these:

The substance of the argument is that the court deciding the issue of quantum of damages would be better suited to decide the proper scale of costs.

He asked the court to determine the issue of fault ahead of the issue of quantum of damages.

However, on the issue of quantum of sentence, the High Court found favour with the submission made by the counsel for the appellant.

Could you kindly tell me what the phrase "the issue of quantum (of)" means? I looked up the phrase in the dictionary but I couldn't find any relevant information.

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  • Read issue of as "question of" and independent of "quantum of". "The substance of the argument is that the court deciding the question of (the) quantum of damages would be better suited to decide the proper scale of costs." HTH.
    – Kris
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 13:39
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    Avoid saying “the below X” because this can sound stilted and even borderline unnatural to native speakers. Instead say “the following X” in especially formal written contexts, or merely “this X” in the singular or “these Xes” in the plural in many common and less exacting circumstances. Sometimes English-language learners don’t realize that they should use the demonstrative determiners this, that, these, those which native speakers customarily use for these cases.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Jan 25, 2020 at 17:21
  • @tchrist thanks a lot!
    – user88310
    Commented Jun 14, 2020 at 6:36

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I believe in this case your confusion is probably due to the word quantum. One of the OED's definitions for quantum is as follows:

Total amount or quantity; … in later use chiefly law (with reference to amounts of money)

So here, quantum is being used in legal settings to discuss the amount of money (damages) or the length of the sentence. Issue simply refers to an important topic here. The first example you provided is simply positing that the proper scale of costs should be determined on the basis of whatever damages the court decides upon.

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  • Thank you for your explanation, Taylor. However, I'm afraid your explanation may not fit into the sentence ""Accordingly, there is no need for me to deal with Springwell's appeal on the issue of quantum of the Post-Default Appeal.". Could you kindly elaborate more on this one?
    – user88310
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 1:04
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    I had to go look for this specific case because context is clearly needed to get an appreciation for the full picture. In the introduction, "Post-Default claims" are mentioned. I'm guessing that a previous ruling was made, which struck down these Post-Default claims. No damages were thus awarded. The Post-Default appeal seems to be an appeal of the dismissal of these claims, which are monetary in nature. The judge found that the appeal was unfounded and as such is not going to entertain any judgment on the quantum of the appeal—in other words, the amount of damages.
    – Taylor
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 1:14
  • Taylor, I really appreciate your great explanation.
    – user88310
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 4:40
  • Happy to help! Thank you for accepting my answer.
    – Taylor
    Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 16:35

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