A Theoretical Conception of Delictual Liability under the New Czech Civil Code - Doctrinal Limits on Punitive Awards
Abstrakt
A new Czech Civil Code entered into force in 2014 which completely unified aspects of civil law. This raises a question, inter alia, on the theoretical foundations of delictual liability.
This presentation will discuss the theses that the Czech law of torts is now rights-based and that it is useful to strictly distinguish between correlative primary and secondary rights and duties in order to understand various functions of remedies. It shall then be argued that under this theoretical structure there is room for both corrective and distributive justice, the second of which may support the punitive function of remedies.
Finally, a key part of this presentation will question the suitability of punitive awards for violations of primary rights.