This paper argues that punitive, nominal, contemptuous, vindicatory, and disgorgement damages (commonly referred to as non-compensatory damages) can be collectively analysed as public interest damages because all these awards are justified by violations of public interests in addition to violations of the claimant's rights. To the extent they are awarded in the public interest, non-compensatory damages feature a distinctively public element in private law. In contrast to compensatory damages, public interest damages are justified by ‘non-correlative wrongdoing’, ie infringements of interests which are valuable to the community rather than to the claimant. This helps us to understand how public interest damages differ from traditional damages awards and why public interest damages should be treated as an exceptional remedy. In support of these claims, the paper offers an original analytic framework of reasons that justify damages awards.

中文翻译：

---

公共利益损害

本文认为，惩罚性、名义上、蔑视性、辩护性和非法所得的损害赔偿（通常称为非补偿性损害赔偿）可以统称为公共利益损害赔偿，因为除了违反公共利益之外，所有这些赔偿都是正当的。索赔人的权利。就公共利益而言，非补偿性损害赔偿在私法中具有独特的公共元素。与补偿性损害相比，公共利益损害以“不相关的不法行为”为正当理由，即侵犯对社区而不是对索赔人有价值的利益。这有助于我们了解公共利益损害赔偿与传统损害赔偿裁决有何不同，以及为什么应将公共利益损害视为一种特殊的补救措施。