4 ms·
For the most part, fees in civil suits are not to punish the wrongdoer (punishment is the domain of criminal law), but rather to bring about the status quo ante
by jaredklewis 10y ago
For the most part, fees in civil suits are not to punish the wrongdoer (punishment is the domain of criminal law), but rather to bring about the status quo ante (how things were before the offending party screwed things up).
This is not unique to the US legal system, but actually a fairly widespread legal concept.
- scotty79 10y agoAll law systems or the ones that come from UK law? I was under the impression that in french or german law it's more about resolving disputes (who owes whom how much) and punishing "uncivil" but not necessarily criminal behavior (like not respecting agreement).