On The Application Of Punitive Damages To Torts Involving Motors

The main concern of tort law is the total or perfect compensation, which is the basic foundation, justification and function of every single tort accordingly. This conception, which could be traced back to as early as the period of Exodus and beyond, brilliantly reconcile the compounded and seemingly everlasting discrepancy derived from the two competing interest of the protection of victims and the individual freedom on most occasions. As a result, most, if not all, modern tort theories widely accept this conception and take it for granted.However, even the most effective remedy may not cure all the diseases. There are occasions, as they truly are, on which solely compensatory damages might not suffice. As a good case in point, the sharp distinguish between the private and public remedy against intoxicant drivers well illustrate the gap and blank between the two, which is simultaneously the unfortunately ignored area of private law theories nowadays. Specifically speaking, there are several degrees of culpability punishing intoxicant drivers in the criminal law, all of which comprise the apparent and self-consistent escalation of responsibilities based on the reprehensibility, while civil law only provide single level of responsibility, which in fact leads to the unfair and revolting result that the responsibility of a drunk driver is equal to that of a careless father desperately in a rush to pick up his little girl from the kindergarten, but being delayed due to the traffic jam, who tragically hits the bottom of another car. Moreover, the word "compensatory" may bring about unnecessary confusion and controversy that, the only thing for the drunk driver to show his remorse and seek the redemption is to forbear the relatively trivial pecuniary unpleasantness, which certainly is not part of the expected outcome of tort law, but overwhelmingly convincing.The punitive damage offers the emergency exit to negate the impact brought by this by-product afore-mentioned of adversely substantiating the tortfeasor's right to trample over the others. Given the fact that Louisiana surrounded by the common law states, accepts the punitive damage as the integration into its civil code, the study of the Louisiana Civil Code 2315.4 may benefit the adoption or transplantation of the punitive damage in China, the law system of which shares the civil law background with Louisiana, at least provide precious practical experiences, both successful and underachieved.