징벌적 손해배상제도에 관한 국내 입법의 현황과 문제점

With the increase in corporate misconduct and unfair trade, punitive damages have gained normative support from the public and are reflected in several special laws. Now is the time for more advanced discussions on whether the current legal form is valid, how to establish a systemic consistency with the law, and whether the grounds for the generalized three-fold compensation are appropriate. The regulation on punitive damages takes the form of multiple compensation by multiplying a certain number of multiplier to the so-called actual damages. In retrospect, the side effects of the punitive compensation system without an upper limit, the statutory damages system adopted by the current law has adverse effects on sanctions and deterrence, while it can be an alternative to overcome limitations in compensatory damages. The question is whether the triple compensation is appropriate. Some say that this is an intuitive result of the legislation process. However, considering the average amount of punitive damages in the U.S. or international legislative trends, it can be assessed as effective legislation. It is a matter of careful consideration to determine whether a special legislation is needed to expand drainage, but the possibility need not be ruled out. However, it is hard to accept that abolishing the upper limit would undermine the stability of the damage compensation law. It is a matter of legislative policy whether the relevant regulations should be placed as general clause in the tort law in the event of a large increase in the scope of punitive compensation schemes or as individual clause under the legislative injunction as they are. Whereas general clause are flexible, there is a risk of excessive intervention in the analytical materials, which could compromise the stability of the impairment compensation system. Regulations currently distributed in the special law seem to have a lot in common with their requirements or effects, so it is possible to integrate them into one special law. The current form of legislation is expected to evolve into a unified special law and eventually become independent of the general provisions of civil law.