Corrective Justice and Its Significance on the Private Law

Abstract

This article attempts to explore corrective justice and its significant role in private law. Corrective justice can be traced back to Aristotle's ideas of justice and Kant's ideas of rights. Hans Kelsen sharply criticized the concept of corrective justice for only proposing formal ideas without touching anything substantial. Apart from this criticism, corrective justice remains very important in private law studies because it provides solutions between two private actors in which one benefits from the losses experienced by the other. So far, the dispute settlement mechanism in private law gives the winning party a full share, while the loser does not receive any share at all. Corrective justice offers a quantitative measure that balances what the defendant is deducting and what is added to the claimant's loss. The application of this principle encourages the creation of equal punishment between the disputed parties.