On Punitive Damages

Punitive Damages is a special kind of damages both in American Law and Chinese Law. It affords a practical justification for admitting into the civil law a principle that ought logically to belong to the criminal. Punitive damages are awarded to punish the defendant for the commission of an aggravated or outrages act of misconduct and to deter him and others from such conduct in the future. Treating punitive damages as the main object to research, this thesis adopts various methods including comparison between two legal systems, legal interpretative analysis and case study, involves relevant problems such as the conception and character, the integrants and the character of liability. Furthermore, this thesis also discusses the applicable realm of punitive damages in China' law.First, by analyzing the different definition of punitive damages in America Law and Chinese Law, this thesis will point out that they share the common purposes such as punishment and deterrence, law enforcement, and compensation in despite of the difference.In Chapter â…¢, I will expatiate on the elements of punitive damages and the character of punitive damages liability. Transcending the viewpoint of civil liability, I try to set forth that the punitive damages liability is a kind of liability in economic law, and its occurrence reflects the trend of modern law.The doctrines of punitive damages develop most perfectly in American law. It should be adapted to our own socioeconomic situation and judicatory system. To the question that punitive damages should be widely adopted, this thesis argues that it should be mainly applied in cases as specified in the kingdom of economic law, rather than civil law.