The Application And Improvement Of Punitive Damages System In China

At first,the system of punitive damages mainly existed in Anglo-American legal system countries.After the initial stage of embryo and growth,it finally matured,and its system superiority gradually emerged.However,because the concept of retaliation and punishment in damages was very different from that of civil law countries,the civil law countries found it hard to accept this system.Despite the long period of controversy,the system still could not get good development in the civil law countries.However,the actual judgments of the court exceeded the compensatory damages and are "punitive." As a civil law country,our country held the exclusive attitude of the punitive damages system.Later,under the fierce confrontation and contest of theory,this system was finally adopted and was first set forth in the Consumer Protection Law of 1993.Since then,the system has appeared in many laws such as "Contract Law","Food Safety Law" and "Tort Liability Law".For more than 20 years,under the repeated grinding of theory and practice,the development of punitive damages has been perfected recently,which has largely protected the legitimate rights and interests of the broad masses of the people,safeguarded the stability of the social order and promoted the healthy development of the market economy.However,the drawbacks of the system are also increasingly obvious.Some important concepts are not clear,application requirements are strict and punitive damages is not completely reasonable.This article will use comparative analysis and economic analysis to analyze the existing problems and their causes,and learn from the successful experience of other countries to achieve further study.Then try to provide some perfect suggestions for the punitive damages system in our country,and promote the function of the system to play an effective role.