The Research On Punitive Damages In Consumer Protection Law System

Punitive damages system,originated in the United Kingdom,has now developed into a very mature one after several hundred years of development and adopted by other countries.The system has been succeed by the Anglo-American countries,the role of which plays,has a far-reaching influence.Civil law system insists on binary classification-public law and private law.Therefore,at the very beginning,the civil law system refused to accept the system.But with the international exchange deepened and the social practice changing,civil law countries also began to accept it.With the development of market economy,the problems of consumption areas continue to enter people's field of vision.People began to pay attention to the protection of power,so the consumer protection in the punitive damages system has also been the heated concern.China's first introduction of punitive damages system was "Consumer Protection Law"(hereinafter referred to as the old "consumer law")in 1993,which is a milestone-the system has a great significance in the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of consumers,operators,maintenance of market economic order and other aspects.However,the public's demands for a better consumer environment continue to increase.The system exposed its drawbacks prominently,such as the single type application and the low amount of compensation.Finally,in 2014,the implementation of the "Consumer Protection Law"(hereinafter referred to as the "Consumer Law"),the punitive damages system made major changes and improvements,.such as raising the amount of compensation,increasing the type of punishment and so on.After the perfect,however,the criticism of the system still exists.For example,ambiguous concept of "consumer";the single subjective elements of the system;unreasonable punitive damages and so on.In the market trading,operators are often in a dominant position but consumers are at a disadvantage one.In the practice,the system is difficult to coordinate the contradiction between the two sides.In recent years,the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of consumers has become one of the heated issues of social concern,and punitive damages system for the realization of this purpose is essential.Taken consumer rights protection in the punitive compensation system as the object of study,this article will analyze the existing problems of the system and put forward suggestions for improvement by taking a variety of analytical methods,This article is divided into five parts.They are respectively:The first part is the introduction.It mainly introduces the research background and 'significance of the article,the research status at home and abroad and the research methods.The second part is an overview of punitive damages in the protection of consumer rights.Taking the definition of consumer rights protection in the meaning of punitive damages as a beginning,this article is to analyze the characteristics of the system,which is punitive,statutory,the amount of uncertainty.And then explore the nature of the system and sum up by combining with the current theory of various theories.Finally,the author elaborates the legal provisions and the changes of the punitive damages system in the current "consumer law".The third part introduces the foreign punitive damages system for the protection of consumers' rights and interests.This paper starts from the two major legal systems,selects the typical representative countries-----Britain and the United States in the Anglo-American law system,Germany and Japan in the civil law system,and introduces the application of the system in these countries.The system in Anglo-American law countries is relatively more accomplished.The civil law countries refused the system at the beginning while turn into accept it now.According to the analysis of the outstanding experience of other countries,this article combines with China's national conditions,and finally puts forward its inspiration and reference to China.The fourth part is the analysis of the existing "consumer law' punitive damages system itself.This chapter is divided into three parts:first,the definition of the scope of the consumer is not clear,including the issues that whether buy fake the unit with intention and is in the consumer category;second,the existing problems in the application of punitive damages system,including the unclear composition of the provisions of fraud,the limited subjective conditions and the type of the system;the last,the amount of compensation,including the low minimum amount of compensation,unreasonable multiple provisions,and other non-discretion factors.The fifth part is the perfect proposal for the above questions.First,it is the reasonable definition of the scope in the subject,including the fact that the consumer should include only natural persons,and those who know the fake can be included in the category.Then,the application of the systrem should be improved,including the criteria for judging the fraud,increasing the subjective elements and expanding the application of the system types;the last is to improve the compensation standards,including raising the minimum amount of compensation,a reasonable determination of compensation multiple and the increase of discretion factor.There are two main innovations in this paper.First,the punitive damages system in the protection of consumer rights and interests,most scholars pay attention to its characteristics,role,etc.but this paper has gained its economic law attributes through the analysis of the academics.Second,this paper holds that there are many problems in the punitive damages of "Consuming Law",which are summarized and put forward suggestions,and pay attention to the research system.But due to the author's own limited knowledge and less practical experience,some suggestions are not mature.And the foreign research is not sufficient.But the author will continue to study and explore in the future study,and expect to make a little contribution in the course of the perfecting the rule of law.