Punitive damages in Mexico

Abstract

In an important judgment, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation introduced in Mexico the “punitive damages”, a concept which belongs to the common law tradition and therefore it is alien to the civil law culture to which the Mexican Legal System belongs. Although it is a precedent that is not consolidated with strong binding effects and therefore other judges are not forced to apply it, this decision raises the opportunity to discuss in depth the stiff legal regime of civil responsibility in Mexico to review its pertinence, and its conformity with the concept of “integral repair” of the international laws of human rights. In spite of the objections that, with or without reason, can be formulated against that decision of the Supreme Court, the introduction of the punitive damages in Mexico represents a great opportunity for the evolution of its legal system.