Punitive Damages Jurisprudence And Application

Punitive damages which is a special form of civil liability in common law, are damages appealed in a lawsuit. When the defendant's willful acts were malicious, violent, oppressive, fraudulent, wanton or grossly reckless, the defendant will be judged to pay damages over the amount that the plaintiffs loss of actual damages to the plaintiff, for that the plaintiff's damages can be compensated, and the malfeasance can be punished. The system of punitive damages is mainly carried out in common law. But in recent years, there has been some effect on the civil law. Civil law countries including China began to pay attention to it and introduce it to legal theory and practice.This paper insists on opinions as follows. Punitive damages has strong prevention function and deterrence function, which accords with the spirit of civil law of modern. Punitive damages doesn't conflict with basic theories of civil law, meanwhile it is the necessary supplement of civil compensatory. Therefore it has the reasonability of existing. However, punitive damages is a sword with double blades that we should hold a suitable limitation in using it. In order to exert its positive function, we should set a limitation to its scope and conditions for application and regulate the amount of punitive damages. Punitive damages isn't suitable to be applied widely in our country. But in some unusual areas where torts are very serious and the existing law isn't sufficient, we should use it.This paper is divided into four parts. In part Ⅰ, by reviewing the development of punitive damages, the author introduces the general theories of punitive damages in common law. Punitive damages on the Great Britain and U.S.A. have exerted a certain influence on the civil law.In part Ⅱ, the author analyzes relevant theories on punitive damages. Punitive damages has responsibility nature of civil compensation. The legal values of the system include justice, freedom, equality, and order. The functions of the system are punishment, prevention or deterrence, indemnification and encouragement.In part Ⅲ, the author mainly analyzes punitive damages rationality of beingin the current society. The author thinks that punitive damages has reflected the trend of the modern civil law, which consisted with the change of the tort law, and fulfilled the function of civil liability. The system doesn't disobey theory of the civil law either.In part mj, the author is concentrated on such issue that how to apply punitive damages in our country. The conditions for punitive damages include four respects such as illegal act, wrong of willfulness, the actual damages and the link between the reasons and results. Among them, the wrongs of willfulness are most important. Punitive damages is applied mainly in the field of tort law and partly in the field of contract law. The amount of punitive damages should be fixed reasonably for consideration of certain principle and all kinds of factors.