| Punitive damage system is a compensating system as the counterpart of compensatory damage system, which is to give victims compensating costs over their actual costs. Punitive damage system originates from common law system countries, and has made deep influence in civil law countries as well. Punitive damage system is a special compensating system, awarded not only to compensate victims'cost but also to include sanction and deterrent function which belongs to criminal law into civil law, and 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. Currently, although we have some law concerning about punitive damage, there are still many vague parts in its scope of application and nature analysis. In all, it is still not systematic and perfect. This article intends to do a comparison between civil law and common law in the aspect of punitive damage and its history and a research about the significance of the first introduction of punitive damage into liability for tort in China, to further clear the legitimacy of punitive damage system in our legislation, and the rationality of the tendency to gradually increase punitive compensation amount, and to provide some ideas and suggestion to perfect and develop China's punitive damage system.There are three parts besides introduction and conclusion,29,000 words in all.Part one is an introduction to the history of punitive damage system. In this part, the history including the birth and development of ancient, modern and contemporary punitive damage system will be stated, so as to clarify the historical context of punitive damage system and form a clear understanding about it.Part two:basic theory of punitive damage system. In this part, six aspects including punitive damage system's basic concept, key component, nature, function and application scope are analyzed, so as to explicit the position of punitive damage system in civil liability to understand its function.Part three:the present status and perfection of China's punitive damage system, which is the core part of the article. In this part firstly the current regulation about punitive damage in China's law system is combed, and then the significance of the punitive damage in article 47 in the personal injury and product liability law and formulate some idea and suggestion. |
