Article 1232 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China introduces punitive damages liability for the first time in the field of ecological environmental infringement, and punitive damages in the field of environmental infringement have been landed in judicial practice. The application of punitive damages is reasonable and legitimate, which is beneficial to compensate and motivate the victim, and punish and deter the infringer. However, the application of punitive damages in the field of environmental infringement has some practical doubts, including the disputes over the scope of application, the disputes over the applicable requirements, the unclear compensation standards, and the confusion of the boundaries of civil law and criminal law. In order to apply punitive damages more reasonably in judicial practice, it is necessary to coordinate the relationship between punitive damages and public law liability, clarify the applicable standards of punitive damages, and improve the applicable conditions of punitive damages.

Kejie Zhang. The Application of Punitive Liability in the Field of Ecological Environmental Infringement. International Journal of Frontiers in Sociology (2024), Vol. 6, Issue 12: 1-6. https://doi.org/10.25236/IJFS.2024.061201.

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