Valuing Companion Animals As Persons In Wrongful Death Cases

In China, the occurrence of pets being killed by others is not uncommon. When pet owner sues another person claiming for compensation for moral damage, the court doesn’t support the action. On the one hand, there are no specific provisions in law in China. On the other hand, the value of pets is difficult to be measured by money. There is a profound and important relationship between pet and pet owner, similar to the love among family members. But the law recognizes all the animals (including pet) as a kind of property. This classification makes some tort and custody cases controversial. The law should be adjusted according to the degree that human treasure pets. In certain circumstances, a pet should be valued as a person in particular cases, but not simply as a physical property. When a third party kills a pet by the negligent or malicious actions, pet owners have suffered great mental anguish. And the market value of a pet is limited, only the market value of the award compensation to make up for the loss of a pet is far from. In this paper, by the research to the Western judicial precedent (especially United States) of pet killed cases, I think pets should be valued as persons. When a pet is killed, the court should support the request of mental compensation.In order to achieve the goal that this paper pursues, the paper can be divided into six parts. In part Ⅰ, there are different judgments to authorize recovery for loss of companionship which lead to the subject this paper wants to discuss. Part Ⅱ introduces the regulations and judicial interpretations about mental damages compensation. We can see our law system has changed. Although there is no clearly definitions in pets’killed cases, the pet owner has the right to obtain compensation for mental damage. In judicial interpretations, people whose specific commemorative items are destroyed may bring a lawsuit for mental damage compensation. It is undoubted a great breakthrough. In part Ⅲ, the paper discusses the situation of how to deal with pet killed cases in foreign countries. With the progress of human civilization, as a species that has its own consciousness and feelings, the position of pets has been greatly improved. They become more important to human, which is different from other objects like plants. Although in the West, the judgment that pet owners may obtain mental damage compensation is uncertain when their pets are killed. More and more courts support the owners. Some states, such as Tennessee, have passed law to allow pet owners obtain compensation for mental damages because of death of the pets. Part IIII reviews the legal basis on which courts and legislatures have allowed recovery for the damage suffered by owners of companion animals, and shows that the types of damages allowed have expanded in recent years. In part Ⅴ and Ⅵ, the paper tells the factors which determine whether to compensate and the amounts.