An Empirical Study On The Standards Of Punitive Compensation In The Dispute Of Commercial Housing Sale And Purchase Contract

In the past ten years,with the increasing demand for housing,the real estate market,which is an important industry of the national economy,has developed rapidly,and the transaction volume of commercial housing has been increasing day by day.It is inevitable that disputes over commercial housing sales contracts will inevitably accelerate.In March24,2003,after the Supreme People’s Court promulgated the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Applicable Laws in the Trial of Commercial Housing Sale and Purchase Contract Disputes”(hereinafter referred to as “Interpretation”),the punitive compensation system was formally and clearly applied to the field of commercial apartment purchase and sale contracts.This is the first time that from the perspective of judicial interpretation,punitive damages are applied to developers’ malicious breach of contract and fraud during the sale and purchase of commercial housing.As a system from the Anglo-American legal system,the application of punitive damages in commercial housing sales contract disputes broke through the compensatory principle of damage compensation in civil law countries,with a view to readjusting the commercial housing sales contract through this system In fact,inequality achieves substantive fairness and justice.However,the “Interpretation” clearly stipulates six types of malicious breach of contract and fraud that apply punitive compensation.The corresponding applicable conditions are strict.It is not easy for the buyer to claim that punitive compensation can be supported by the court.Moreover,in recent years,various forms of malicious breaches and frauds have appeared in practice,such as commercial house malicious advertising,commercial house quality fraud,pre-sale fraud,etc.For new types of disputes that arise,the damage is not less than the act of punitive compensation that has been clearly stipulated in the “Interpretation”.When a new dispute arises,the buyer must either advocate punitive damages in accordance with the “Consumer Rights Protection Law”,or confuse the provisions of Articles 8,9 and 14 of the“Interpretation”.In practice,the court often does not support its punitive compensation claims,which is unfavorable to protect the interests of commercial housing buyers.Therefore,the system of applicable standards for punitive damages in commercial house sales contract disputes needs to be improved urgently.In particular,it is necessary to clarify the legal basis for the application of the punitive damages system,expand the scope of application of the punitive damages system,and establish typical case type guidance.