In European patent law, it also refers to a means of redress available to an applicant or patentee who has failed to meet a time limit despite exercising all due care.
In ancient Roman law, it was a specific method of praetor intervention in an otherwise-valid legal action that was viewed as especially unjust or harmful.
The general rule, as the principle implies, is that the amount of compensation awarded should put the successful plaintiff in the position that would have been the case if the tortious action had not been committed.
Damages awards in those categories are justified by the restitutio principle as monetary compensation provides the most practicable way of redressing the deprivation caused by physical injury.
The core concept of reversing to original condition was preserved, but restitutio in integrum was a specific method of praetor intervention in an otherwise-valid legal action that was viewed as especially unjust or harmful.