Research On The System Of Punitive Damages Compensation In Tort Liability Law

Corresponding to the system of compensatory damages compensation, the system of punitive damages compensation means the tortfeasor should pay the infringed extra monetary compensation beside of the amount of actual damages they suffered. The main function of the system is to punish illegal person, to curb the occurrence of such behavior, and to fully compensate the victim's loss. The system of Punitive damages compensation originated in ancient Rome, and in the ancient law it was used widely, but strictly to say, the system of Punitive damages originated in medieval England. However, it was also the controversial one in the common law legal systems. In Anglo-American legal system, it was widely used in the cases of civil infringement damages, despite of the controversy and setbacks in the Anglo-American law system it still have further development and the theory are maturing and there are many quotable operational methods regarding to the applicable conditions, the determination of the amount of compensation, and it become a distinctive Anglo-American law system. In civil law countries, resulting in the conservative attitude towards the punitive damages, which is because of the differences in the historical background, the judicial system, and legal aspects of mental, so far, the typical civil law countries did not use common law on punitive damages, in legislation and judicial practice, but has begun to accept it. It can be said, as the development of the society, punitive damages, whether in common law or civil law countries have been gradually recognized and developed into a series of principles and regulations.Affected by this, some rules of punitive damages compensation start to appear successively in our legislation, and gradually established a system of punitive damages compensation. In 1993, "Consumer Protection Law" Article 49 was first introduced punitive damages compensation in the form of a special law, which can be said that a major breakthrough in China's civil liability legislation; And then in March 2003, according to the judicial explanation. "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Relevant Issues concerning the Application of Law for Trying Cases On Dispute over Contract for the Sale of Commodity Houses, " formulated five Applicable conditions of punitive damages compensation in the sale of commodity houses; " food Safety law "effected in February 2009,Article 96:" Production or deliberately sale food does not meet food safety standards, consumers can request to get the compensation which is 10 times of the price, in 2010, "tort Liability Act "Article 47 explicitly used the concept of punitive damages compensation, which is a great significance. This shows the acceptance and attention to punitive damages compensation in our law. Therefore we can conclude that the theory research about our system of punitive damages not only has a profound theoretical significance on the development of China's civil legislation and judicial operation, but also fits the trend of development of international law.This article will make an in-depth study from multi-angle like theory and practice, history and reality, the current research results and system construction insufficient .This paper is divided into five parts: Part I: Introduction; Part II: Basic theory of punitive damages compensation; Part III: development and status of punitive damages compensation in the relevant countries and regional; Part IV: evaluation of punitive damages in tort law; part V: To build and improve the system of punitive damages in our tort law system. This paper based on a lot of research results and combines with my investigations strives for clarifying and making a intensive study of the theory of punitive damages compensation , comprehensively sorts of the development history of the punitive damages compensation, the Evolution of this system in Anglo-American legal system, and modern development situations, pointed out the necessity of establishing the system of punitive damages, as well as the difficulties and the negative effects which we are likely to face under existing conditions in our country if we introduce the system of punitive damages in current social situation and than present her own viewpoints about the solutions of corresponding problems, and then provides a reasonable and feasible theory reference about consummating the system of punitive damages in China. The author proposes her initial thoughts in this paper that we should establish punitive damages compensation step by step, and endeavors to provide some ideas about construction of this system based on the theory and practice.