중국 징벌적 손해배상제도의 입법현황과 사법실천의 동향

Legislative Status and Judicial Practice of the Punitive Damage Compensation System in China

Changes and progress in social phenomena such as politics, economy, and culture have a lot of influence on the state's legislative policy. In China, the punitive compensation system, which was introduced to deter and prevent malicious illegal activities and to protect victims thicker since the end of the 20th century, has been widely expanded from food, medicine, and product accidents to intellectual property rights. The punitive damages system has been applied by individual legislation or judicial interpretation, but the first integrated civil law implemented in 2021 adopted punitive damages as one of the new rights relief methods. Among all civil cases, the proportion of litigation cases claiming punitive damages is insignificant at present. However, as the area to which the punitive compensation system can be applied is expanding significantly, related lawsuits are expected to increase significantly in the future. In order to implement the legislative purpose of the punitive compensation system and maintain a stable judicial order, above all, it is necessary to determine the multiple of compensation that can secure fairness and equity. As with the provisions of some laws, if the gap in the scope of the multiple of punitive compensation is excessively large, it is necessary to adjust it reasonably because the discretion of the judge may intervene. It is necessary to reasonably adjust this, and in order to secure the effectiveness of the system, a realistic alternative to increase the execution rate of the judgment should be prepared. We look forward to the accumulation of precedents while paying attention to China's continuous legislative efforts and changes in judicial practice.