On The Standard Of Compensation For Damages To Victims Of Special Constitutions

Person of special constitutions call for special protection by law due to the vulnerable body compared with normal person when suffering injury from tortfeasors. There are not clear prescriptions in our laws about the standard of compensation for damages to victims of special constitutions, which lead to different jurisdictions in the same or similar cases. On the whole, there exist two analyzing approach in judgement: the first approach is that tortfeasor shall be responsible to the whole damages since there are not clear descriptions in law stipulating special constitutions can be legal demurring reasons; The other approach is the application of causative potency theory. Tortfeasor and victims shall shall be responsible for the corresponding damages according to causative potency theory since tort and special constitutions caused personal injuries together.However, either of such analyzing approaches seems to be too rigid. On one hand, it may means too much burden to tortfeasors if they are liable for the whole damages. On the other hand, the application of causative potency theory may be unfair to victims since whether the special constitutions is part of the legal reason for damages or not depend on the judges’ ultimate judgement. Under the circumstances, we need to make comprehensive analysis and judgment, considering tortfeasor’ subjective fault form, efficiency of damage prevention, the predictability of damages and the conditions of victims. Then, we can construct the standard of compensation based on the analysis and judgement aforesaid.We should stick to the Principle of Full Compensation, which is that in principle, tortfeasors shall be liable for the whole damages the victims suffered, which have been demonstrated by juridical practices of Britain, United States, Germany and other countries. In addition, the principle of filling damages and prevention provides judicial legitimacy for the principle of full compensation. The Principle of Full Compensation demonstrate the special protection to the vulnerable victims of special constitutions. However, there are some exceptions to full compensation principle, such as the negligent of victims, the contributory negligence and the application of causative potency theory in medical tort, in which cases, the tortfeasors shouldn’t be liable for the whole damages.