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Date of Award
5-1-2019
Degree Name
Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This dissertation focuses on the general policy concerns supporting the imposition of punitive damages. Outside the common law countries, punitive damages are of lesser importance or do not exist at all. The official tool of damages in Civil law countries is compensatory damages. The research aims to examine the possibility of introducing punitive damages into Qatar private law system. The essential situations that compare reality to the fundamental principle of the Civil law of damages are discussed as well as the question of whether punitive damages have been reintroduced into the Civil legal system as an additional principle of compensatory damages. As 1 an objective, the research strives to discuss the defects of such punitive doctrine, and introduce better rules to apply in Qatar. The study will examine; 1) The purposes behind awarding punitive damages. 2) The proposals which have been motivated by a desire to decrease unpredictability of punitive damages awards such U.S Supreme constitutional limitation, and damages caps imposed by the states’ legislature. 3) The possible solutions or mechanisms to make the award acceptable to be introduced officially into the Qatari private law system. The research herein targets to elaborate a set of policy recommendations after thorough scrutiny and analysis of the results presented. The analysis and elaboration will help in making reforms to the damages doctrine in Qatar. This dissertation provides a comprehensive solution to Qatar’s lack of punitive damages and offers a model for other countries. It examines the most persuasive law and economics theories behind punitive damages, and binding precedents from the United States Supreme Court. All possible advantage and disadvantages of each legal rule were taken into account.
Chair and Committee
Professor De Geest, Professor Scott A. Baker, Professor Peter Cramer
Recommended Citation
AlKaabi, Mohammed Hassan, "Punitive Damages: A comparative study of the U.S. and Qatari law." (2019). School of Law Dissertations. 59.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_etds/59