Review article
The Italian System of Compensation for Non-Pecuniary Damage
Marijan Ćurković
Abstract
The author considers the question of compensation for non-pecuniary damage in Italian law. He first outlines the system of compensation laid down in the Italian Civil Code of 1942, a system that is no longer adequate for the new social reality, which takes the view of absolute protection of the rights of personality, including the protection of the constitutional right to health. The Civil Code system was changed over many years in a variable practice by the courts, which led to general confusion and loss of confidence, because it was quite uncertain whether the injured party will be awarded compensation and, in case of an award, what sum will be awarded. Each court decided individually which form of non-pecuniary damage will be admitted and what criteria will be applied in deciding on the amount of compensation. Through the intervention of the Supreme Court, non-pecuniary damage has been returned to one type – biological damage – which does not lend itself to division into subtypes which can be compensated for. But, as the author admits, it is not certain that this ends definitively the dramatic development of the institution of compensation for non-pecuniary damage in Italian law.
Keywords
immaterial damage; biological damage; existential damages; the Court of Cassation
Hrčak ID:
100054
URI
Publication date:
28.12.2012.
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