Breach Of The Mental Damage Compensation Legitimacy And System Construction

Most jurisdictions remain cautious in terms of the legal issue on the compensationfor mental injury caused by breach of contract which, however, has been regarded asjustifiable by more and more people as the result of social advancement. In accordancewith traditional civil law, mental inury can only be casued by tort rather than breach ofcontract. Nevertheless, scholars never stop working on the probe towards anunderstanding of this legal issue which has been a popular topic in the world of law.The disputes on the justifiability and feasibility of this issue remain unsettled. Mostscholars believe that contractual liability shall be seperated from tort liability and thevictim can only rely on one of the two liabilities for claiming damage. It means thatlitigation can only be triggered by tort if the claimant would like to claim damage formental injury and the claimant will not be allowed to rely on both of the two liabilities.As a result, victims suffered loss because of breach of contract fail to claim damage formental injury. As far as I am concerned, it is very neccesary to recognize thejustifiability of compensation for mental injury caused by breach of contract and thisbelief has been supported by more and more judgements which are made basing ongood faith principles.Basing on the current situations of legislation and judicature aswell as the references to the legislations of other jurisdictions, I believe thatcompensation for mental injury caused by breach of contract shall be incorporated intoChina laws. In this research I try to analyze the opposite opinions, discuss thejustifiability and feasibility of compensation for mental injury caused by breach ofcontract, and put forward a proposal for establishing this system.