Dual Application of Punitive Damages in Environmental Public Interest Litigation and Private Litigation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/sr8qdf79Keywords:
Environmental infringement liability, punitive damages, environmental public interest litigation, environmental private rights litigation.Abstract
Article 1232 of the "Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China" establishes a punitive damages system for environmental infringement cases. While the applicability of punitive damages to the protection of private environmental rights is well-established, their permissibility within environmental civil public interest litigation remains a subject for legal deliberation. The academic community has long been divided on this issue, with two prevailing perspectives: one affirming and the other denying. Recent jurisprudence, however, illustrates a paradoxical trend diverging from theoretical predictions: a marked decline in punitive damages awards in private environmental litigation, coinciding with their progressive adoption in environmental civil public interest cases. This divergence between judicial practice and legal theory warrants further investigation. This paper examines the doctrinal legitimacy of imposing punitive damages in public interest litigation, while concurrently investigating the jurisprudential constraints and underlying rationales for their circumscribed application in private environmental tort disputes, from the perspectives of both public interest and private rights litigation.
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