On Compensation For Immaterial Damages In Breach Of Contract

In traditional civil law, it is universally accepted that breach of contract does notcause immaterial harm to the other party, or the immaterial harm is not qualified fordamages. With the development of out society, some problems arise in our legalpractice. Does breach of contract cause immaterial harm to the other party? Shoulddamages be awarded for immaterial damages caused by breach of contract? Not onlyscholars have much debate on this issue, but also our judgments conflict with eachother. It is time that we attach great importance to this problem and settles itimmediately. In consideration of this, this article intends to take part in such debateand hopefully it will raise some helpful opinions.Besides the introduction and the epilogue, this article contains four sections.The first section analyzes the concept and functions of immaterial damages. Inlegal science, every concept has its given meanings. To determine whether damagesshould be awarded for immaterial damages caused by breach of contract, we need toaccurately define the concept and functions of immaterial damages at first.As the emphasis of this article, section two conducts a comprehensive analysisand refutation of various viewpoints that are against immaterial damages in breach ofcontract. The reason why immaterial damages in breach of contract have not beenestablished is just such viewpoints. There many reasons to support such viewpoints. Some are to some extent rational. However, the author maintains that all these reasonsare not as sufficient as to negate the establishment of immaterial damages system inbreach of contract.In section three, the author addresses the jurisprudential basis of immaterialdamages system in breach of contract. It is suggested that there are three kinds ofbasis: basis in jurisprudence, demand in legal practice and reference to foreign lawand international law.Section four discusses the application of immaterial damages system in breach ofcontract, including the requirements for immaterial damages in breach of contract, thescope of its application and the determination of its amount.