China's Product Liability Punitive Damages System

Punitive Damages have a deep history in the common law. But with the gradual integration of two legal systems, there is a trend that Punitive Damages has been used in many civil law countries and regions. Nowadays, there are many violations of the defective products in China. The rights and interests of the community always are at risk. Therefore, it is significant to establish a system of Punitive Damages for product liability. However, the functions of Punitive Damages has not play out. Thus, we have reason to believe that the system of Punitive Damages in product liability will be opened up a new vista of tort law.This article is divided into three parts which are the introduction, the main text and the conclusion. The main text divided into three chapters. In the first chapter, the author began at introducing the adoption of Punitive Damages for products liability in China. The author pointed out the inadequacies of Punitive Damages, including the application of Punitive Damages, the calculation of Punitive Damages Award, as well as the problem of convergence between Punitive Damages and "Enterprise Bankruptcy Law". The second chapter demonstrated the basic theory of Punitive Damages. The author analyzed the concept of Punitive damages, the characteristics, nature and functions, as well as the trend which both in the common law and civil law countries and regions. Based on the above analysis, the author brought forward some suggestions on the development and improvement of our system of Punitive Damages in product liability, such as the definition of product and product defects, the model of determining the amount of Punitive Damages Award, and the expansion of "knowingly" in "Tort Liability Act" section 47.