Study On Compensation For Mental Damages In Contract Violation

For those special service contracts with the main purpose of spiritual benefits, there has always been controversy theoretically on the issue of claiming for mental damage indemnity in a breach of contract litigation. In view of the lack of relevant legal provisions, most of the courts often choose not to support this kind of claims. But there are some courts that had dared to break through existing legal provisions and opted to support the victim’s claim for mental damage indemnity in breach of contract litigation. By citing three controversial cases which were for the plaintiffs’ claims, this paper analyzes and compares the domestic and foreign legislations, and conducts analysis and demonstrations on the main arguments for denying the establishment of a mental damage indemnity system, so as to present a conclusion that it is necessary to establish a system of mental damage indemnity for breach of contract.It was discussed in this paper in the following four parts:Part One:It briefly presented three cases which support the appeal for mental damage compensation arising from breach of contract, analyzed the conflicts and disputes between the trial results and the laws currently in force.Part Two:It analyzed, in the comparative jurisprudence method,the provisions about the systems of mental damage compensation arising from breach of contract in some representative countries ofthe Anglo-American legal system and the continental legal system, cited the provisions about the same in China’s current laws. It is found out that both the Anglo-American legal system and the continental legal system has, to a certain extent, accepted the mental damage compensation arising from breach of contract, while on the contrary, the provisions in China’s current laws are overcautious about the system of mental damage compensation arising from breach of contract which are discrepant with the conditions of our country and the generally recognized international legislative environments.Part Three:It analyzed the three cases, and demonstrated the merits that the trial court for the three cases supported the mental damage compensation arising from breach of contract by refuting the main arguments which negate this compensate and by analyzing its inconsequence. Part Four:With regard to thesystem of mental damage compensation arising from breach of contract, it is very insufficient to defend the judgment made by individual court breaking through the existing provisions of laws, and the system of mental damage compensation arising from breach of contract must be established and formulated as soon as possible. Part four has put forward analytical tentative ideas on the system of mental damage compensation arising from breach of contract.