Research On The Application Of Law Of Compensation For Breach Of Contract Spirit In Civil Code Era

On January 1,2021,the Civil Code was officially implemented,bringing us into a new era in the new year.Among them,the establishment of the moral damage compensation system for breach of contract is a hot issue that has attracted much attention from the legal community.Article 996 of the Civil Code provides for liability for moral damages for breach of contract,recognizing the possibility of claiming moral damages in the event of serious moral damage to personal rights,opening up the boundary between liability for breach of contract and liability in tort.Mental damage refers to the physical and psychological damage caused to a natural person as a result of the violation of his or her personal rights.That is,the natural person is upset,out of control,irritable,depressed and other negative emotions as a result of the violation of personal rights.These negative emotions are collectively referred to as mental anguish.In addition,there is no mental anguish for legal persons in our country,so there is no question of compensation for moral damages.Before the implementation of the Civil Code,China’s legislation only provides for tort litigation medium moral damages,but the breach of contract will inevitably cause moral damage to others,even serious moral damage,so the relief of moral damage in the breach of contract liability is worthy of attention.However,although the Civil Code addresses this system,its provisions are too principled and must be interpreted if they are to be applied in courts at all levels.Therefore,this article aims to study how to apply China’s moral damages for breach of contract system,and through the analysis of Article996 of China’s Civil Code,combined with relevant academic theoretical research,and drawing on overseas legislative experience,we intend to analyze and discuss the actual development of China’s moral damages for breach of contract system.This article contains the following four main parts:The first part analyzes the concept of compensation for damages for non-pecuniary loss for breach of contract.On one hand,the author will first define the concept of non-pecuniary loss compensation for breach of contract,clarify the nature of non-pecuniary loss compensation,and analyze the necessity of non-pecuniary loss compensation to lay the foundation for the full text;on the other hand,by analyzing the provisions of Article 996 of the Civil Code concerning compensation for damages for non-pecuniary loss for breach of contract,the author will systematically sort out several problems in its judicial application.These problems are mainly concentrated in the following aspects: First,there is no clear stipulation on the scope of application of moral compensation for breach of contract,which makes it impossible to accurately define the behavior in the actual use process;secondly,there is no clear compositional elements of moral compensation for breach of contract;thirdly,there is no standard or principled stipulation on the amount of compensation;what’s more,how to choose to use it when competing with tort liability.The second part mainly discusses the scope of application of compensation for damages for non-pecuniary loss for breach of contract.First,the author will compare the legislative styles outside the territory and analyze relevant theoretical differences.Secondly,based on China’s national conditions,and fully understanding from foreign legislation and the opinions of Chinese experts in legal sciences,the author will propose to limit the scope of application in terms of “contractual benefits” and “personality rights”,and use principled provisions to clarify the spirit of breach the scope of the damage.Next,the author will judge whether the infringed right belongs to the right of personality should be extended to the level of “legal interest”,and the judge will make a comprehensive consideration to determine whether it can be attributed to the right of personality.Finally,the author puts forward a suggestion: China should revise the relevant content of the Tourism Law and improve the compensation system for breach of contract mental damage in it.The third part is about the constitutional elements of compensation for non-pecuniary loss in breach of contract.In terms of constitutive elements,the author will learn from foreign legislation,analyze the background of the first case of compensation for non-pecuniary loss in the Civil Code,further combine Chinese system and legislative model,and propose a combination of subjective elements and objective elements in the emergence stage.Among them,the subjective elements include the subject of compliance with the requirements of foreseeability and the right to change rights,and compensation for non-pecuniary loss caused by breach of contract.The objective constitutive elements include the existence of a legal and effective contractual relationship between the two parties,the breach of contract by one party causing the other party to suffer mental harm,the standard for the severity of the damage,and the reasons for exemption.The fourth part mainly discusses the issue of the determination standard of the compensation amount in the compensation for breach of contract non-pecuniary loss.Using the relevant legislation of the United Kingdom and the United States as a reference,the author will analyze the problem of compensation for non-pecuniary loss caused by breach of contract,and propose that the compensation standards for non-pecuniary loss caused by breach of contract in the United States.The second section will propose principled restrictions on the compensation for mental damage caused by breach of contract.First of all,in the principle of mental compensation for breach of contract,it is clearly pointed out that in dealing with compensation for breach of contract non-pecuniary loss,the main method of appeasement is used to restore the victim’s mental state,and the parties are punished as an auxiliary measure to compensate for the victim’s non-pecuniary loss.The principle restrictions mainly include the following contents,namely,the principle of comfort as the mainstay,the principle of punishment as a supplement,the principle of limitation,and the principle of judge’s discretion.Meanwhile,this part will also clearly points out that it is usually necessary to consider many factors when determining the amount of compensation paid by the party to the victim.In the end,Law of the People’s Republic of China on State Compensation can be referred to the relevant provisions when it comes to determining the amount of compensation.