U.s. Product Liability Punitive Damages System

Punitive damages are damages awarded against a person in addition to compensatory damages to punish him for his illegal conduct and deter him and others from such conduct. Punitive damages was firstly framed in Britain in the 17^th century, and expanded to America in the 18^th century. Although historical precedent for the awarding of punitive damages in tort litigation goes back to ancient times, only 60s of the 20^th century have punitive damages been awarded in American products liability cases. When a plaintiff claims punitive damages in products liability cases, various factors will be considered comprehensively by a court to determine whether to award punitive damages against the defendant. Punitive damages are awarded only upon proof that the defendant's tortious conduct contains elements of intentional wrongdoing or conscious indifference for the plaintiff's welfare. Punitive damages have had an abundant development in Anglo-American law system, and have had very important influence on the legislation and juristic study in continental law system. However, punitive damage awards in products liability actions have been the subject of considerable debate and controversy. In view of the criticism of the excessive punitive damages awards, reforms from federation to states have been launched since 80s last century. The United States Supreme Court has provided some general controls, holding that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment imposes both substantive limits on the size of punitive damages awards and procedural limits on when and how punitive damages may be awarded.Since products liability cases in our country increased sharply recently, and the compensatory damages cannot serve to punish the tortfeasor, and to provide both specific deterrence, as to the tortfeasor, and general deterrence, as to other parties, it is the time to frame punitive damages in our civil legal system, especially in the products liability cases.By the way of comparative study and from the perspective of the origin and the influence of punitive damages, the author analyses the concept, origin and development, characters and functions, and constitutive requirements of the theory in the American products liability cases. On the base of this analysis, the author then studies regulations of punitive damages in Chinese Legal System and put forward suggestions of framing punitive damages in the Civil Code and the Products Quality Law. The dissertation is composed of four chapters except for the introduction and theconclusion. They are follows:Chapter 1 concerns on the conception and the origin and development of punitivedamages.Chapter 2 introduces the punitive damages in the American products liability cases,including the origin and development, the controversy, the constitutive requirementsand the regulations in the federation and states statute law.Chapter 3 presents the current problems of the punitive damages in the productsliability cases, including the problem of excessive punitive damages awards andmultiple punishments; and their solving methods.Chapter 4 firstly analyses the regulations of punitive damages in the two Civil Codedrafts, then put forwards the suggestions of the author on framing punitive damages inthe Civil Code and the Products Quality Law.