Indenização punitiva / Punitive damages

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

04/07/2011

RESUMO

The current paper starts from the premise that the brazilian Law ought to make use of legal institutes that are able to protect, efficiently, the goods and interests of utmost relevance, as well as to assure the maintenance of the social balance. It is the only way to warrant, in adequate levels, the social security (art. 5th, caput, of FC/88), as well as to pursue that which is held as one of the fundamental objectives of the Federal Republic of Brazil, to build a free, just and sympathetic society (art. 3rd, I, of FC/88). It is needed, therefore, to preclude the commission of anti-social acts, aimed, in intentional or extremely negligent way, to the injury of the above mentioned interests, acts that are so reprehensible that its effects surpasses the individual context (= of the victim who is directly injured), causing negative impacts also to the social context (= a depreciation of the social level). It is believed that, to achieve these goals, one must use a judicial sanction that is, at the same time, sufficiently flexible (to be able to sanction all of the potentially detrimental conducts) and adequately severe (to be able to punish the offender and prevent the commitment of similar acts in the future). In that sense, the known instruments of Criminal Law and Administrative Law seem insufficient. For that purpose, one must resort to the Civil Law and, most specifically, to the tort law, adding to it the mecanism it needs to fulfill efficiently the functions of deterrence and punishment, which we call indenização punitiva. It is an institute structural and functionally similar to the punitive damages, typical of the countries of common law and which will serve as a model to the indenização punitiva, but whose enforcement demands previous legal provision. That provision must stipulate not only the objective and subjective requirements to the imposition of the indenização punitiva (which will only occur in the cases of utmost reprehensibility, when the offender acts with intent or gross negligence, injuring existential or metaindividual interests, or yet deriving economic benefits from the tort perpetrated), but also, the criteria to be used to quantify the sanction (which do not relate, neither limit, to the extension of the harm suffered).

ASSUNTO(S)

direito civil indenização pagamento (direito das obrigações) responsabilidade civil social damage tort law

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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