Punitive Damages. A Comparative Perspective between Italian and Peruvian Law

Abstract

The author criticized the theory of multifunctionality in civil liability and the use of compensation awards that exceed the damage suffered and serve as a penalty, comparing how the issue has been addressed by the Italian and Peruvian legal systems. Compensation responds to the need to repair damage caused to a person due to non-compliance with a legally required behavior, but without damage there can be no compensation. The concept of punishment, like compensation, is linked to a pathological and non-physiological dimension of the law, but it works differently because it serves to punish non-compliance with the law. Therefore, a punishment could be imposed even if the punished behavior did not actually cause harm to anyone, because what matters is the violation of the obligation of conduct, regardless of any harm that may have been caused. The research and reasoning carried out offer a critical insight into the issues of punitive damages, negatively judging their impact on the Civil Law legal system, which is considered profoundly different from Common Law.