At its annual conference in November 2010, the Ius Commune Research School devoted its Liability and Insurance Workshop to "The Power of Punitive Damages." European legal scholars and policy makers - in their search for better ways to enforce private and public legal rules, prevent damage, and compensate victims of grave wrongdoing - showed an increased interest in this particular private law remedy. In this book, 22 contributors reflect on the pros/cons, applicability, aims, and limitations of punitive damages in terms of different legal themes. The result is a unique collection of thoughts, suggestions, and critical questions which takes the European punitive damages debate to the next level. The book improves perception of the private law sanction - which is often feared by Europeans - and its common law background, but it also gives new insights with regard to the question of whether European societies are missing out by not adding this powerful penal incentive to the already existing array of private law remedies. (Series: Ius Commune Europaeum - Vol. 101)
About the Author:

Lotte Meurkens was born on 30 August 1982 in Tilburg, the Netherlands. She attended grammar school at the Stedelijk Gymnasium in Breda, the Netherlands. In September 2001, she started studying law at Utrecht University, where she joined the editorial board of the faculty journal "Juncto" and passed her propaedeutic exam in July 2002. While continuing her studies at Maastricht University (September 2002 - July 2008), she was an intern at a first instance court and a law firm, and obtained master of laws degrees in European law and Dutch private law. After graduation until September 2012, Lotte worked as a junior researcher at the private law department of Maastricht University. Besides writing her dissertation under supervision of professor Hartlief and professor Van Maanen, she taught courses in Dutch and European private law, was a member of the Ius Commune Research School. From January 2009 until August 2011, she was editorial secretary of the "Dutch Journal of Civil Law" ("Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Burgerlijk Recht"). In 2009 and 2011, she was a visiting researcher at three law schools in the United States (University of South Carolina, Duke University North Carolina, and Yeshiva University New York). Since September 2013, Lotte has worked as a private law teacher and researcher at Maastricht University.

Emily Nordin holds a LLM, commercial litigation and arbitration from Columbia University School of Law (2012) and a Master of Law of the University of Antwerp (2009). She was from 2009 till 2014 PhD student at the University of Antwerp where she completed a thesis on punitive elements in contract law. Since 2014 she is associate lawyer.