Penal damages

Penal damages

Penal damages are best seen as quantitatively excessive liquidated damages and are invalid under the common law. While liquidated damages are a priori calculations of expectation loss under the contract, penal damages go further and seek to penalise a party in some way for breach of a clause above and beyond the loss suffered by the innocent party as a result of this breach. Many clauses which are found to be penal are expressed as liquidated damages clauses but are seen by courts as excessive and thus invalid.

The judicial approach to penal damages is conceptually important as it is one of the few examples of judicial paternalism in contract law. Even if two parties genuinely and without coercion wish to consent to a contract which includes a penal clause, they are unable to. So, for example, a person wishing to give up smoking cannot contract with a third party to be fined $100 each time they smoke as this figure does not represent the expectation loss of the contract.


=As distinguished from other types of da

Penal damages are to be distinguished from punitive damages, which are awarded in certain types of tort actions for actions which caused harm to the plaintiff. Penal damages are also different from treble damages, which are generally set by statute for certain violations competition law and related laws.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Damages — This article is about the law term. For the television series, see Damages (TV series). For other uses, see Damages (disambiguation) …   Wikipedia

  • damages — I noun amends, compensation, costs, expenses, expiation, fine, indemnification, indemnity, injury, just compensation, legal costs, legal liability, loss, penalty, recompense, recovery, reimbursement, remuneration for injury suffered, reparation,… …   Law dictionary

  • penal — Punishable; inflicting a punishment; containing a penalty, or relating to a penalty @ penal action In its broadest context, it refers to criminal prosecution. More particularly, it refers to a civil action in which a wrongdoer is subject to a… …   Black's law dictionary

  • Penal Code (Singapore) — The Penal Code of Singapore [Singapore Statute | c ed = 1985] sets out general principles of the criminal law of Singapore, as well as the elements and penalties of common criminal offences such as homicide, theft and cheating. The Penal Code… …   Wikipedia

  • penal statute — noun 1. : penal law 1 a 2. : a statue that provides for the use of the state or a private person wronged a forfeiture of penalty and not compensatory damages against the wrongdoer committing an offense against the state by violating the… …   Useful english dictionary

  • penal action — An action founded entirely upon a statute which subjects a wrongdoer to a liability in favor of a person wronged as a punishment for the wrongful act, without limiting such liability to the actual damages suffered. 1 Am J2d Actions § 42. In a… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • penal bond — A bond conditioned upon the performance of duties of office, or other obligations undertaken by the principal obligor in the bond or collateral things to be done by him. 12 Am J2d Bonds § 1. A bond conditioned upon the forfeiture of a penalty for …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • penal statute — A statute which defines and prescribes the punishment for a criminal offense. A statute which provides a penalty enforceable in a civil action. A statute, such as a wrongful death statute, providing for an assessment of damages with reference to… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • Treble damages — Treble damages, in law, is a term that indicates that a statute permits a court to triple the amount of the actual/compensatory damages to be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff, generally in order to punish the losing party for willful conduct.… …   Wikipedia

  • Liquidated damages — (also referred to as liquidated and ascertained damages) are damages whose amount the parties designate during the formation of a contract for the injured party to collect as compensation upon a specific breach (e.g., late performance).When… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”