On The Perfection Of Punitive Damages Instition In The "Food Safety Law"

Punitive damages system originated in England, but gets a more significant development in the United States. This system allows the victim to obtain the amount of compensation, which is higher than the actual damage; it has a good effect on safeguarding the interests of consumers and achieving social justice. There are also provisions of the law with punitive damages color, for example, double compensation of Consumer Protection Law, the purchase of one times system of the Supreme Court on the trial of real estate contract disputes interpretation of the law application, appropriate punitive damages of Tort Liability Act and ten times compensation system of food Safety Law. In this paper, the application and development of this system in China was explained according to the relevant provisions of the Food Safety Law. In recent years, large-scale food security incidents happened very often, and each is sensational. Even the publish of the highly anticipated Food Safety Law still unable to curb this trend. The reason is mainly because that it is difficult to obtain evidence for a food safety incident; and it is also a challenge for the preservation of physical evidence. As an ordinary consumer, is difficult to pursue because it cost too money and takes a long time through litigation, and that was also one of the reasons why most consumers prefer to choose keep silence.This paper is divided into four parts. In the first part, the concept, features, main function and fundamental experiences of institutionalization of the punitive damages system are discussed in which the features of punitive damages for the system are mainly concluded by comparison with other compensation systems, and the main functions are defined by reference to Wang Liming’s four functional theory. In the second part, the legitimacy basis of introduction the punitive damages system to the Food Safety Law are discussed by stating the value appeal of the laws and the seriousness of food safety. In the third part, the status and the main problems of punitive damages system in Chinese Food Safety Law are analyzed, including the lacks of flexibility in penalties, the defects of punitive damages cardinal number, the difficulty of consuming proof, the uncertainties of the conceptional scope of consumer and the imperfections of the applicable standards of food safety. Finally, imputation standards are improved, and meanwhile, the elastic model of punitive damages amount is established by reference to the Anglo-American. And afterwards, the scope of the subject of rights is expanded while defining the amount of punitive damages to actual damages as compensation standards, and the private monitoring networks are built when the proposals of improving the punitive damages system in the Food Safety Law are raised.