Interaction of private and public law mechanisms of compensation for non-pecuniary damage

Abstract

The article establishes the interrelation of international and national, natural and private law, human rights and civil (personal non-proprietary and proprietary) rights in the context of interaction and specificity of functioning of international law and national mechanisms of compensation for non-pecuniary damage. The regulatory potential of compensation for non-pecuniary damage, which can emerge as an effective way of protecting civil rights and interests, both in private (personal non-proprietary and proprietary, contractual and non-contractual) and public legal relations, is revealed. Directions of interaction between international law and private mechanisms of compensation for non-pecuniary damage are outlined, with particular emphasis placed on the influence of the European Court of Human Rights practices on the development of national legal systems, connected with awarding just satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage caused to the applicants. Attention is drawn to the tendency of expanding the scope of persons capable of obtaining, in various legal situations, the right to compensation for non-pecuniary damage, including private legal entities, virtually incapacitated individuals, close relatives, family members and dependents of perished or injured individuals. It is noted that the responsibility of the state in the form of compensation for non-pecuniary damage for violation of human rights and provisions of international humanitarian law, including its responsibility for offenses in the public law field, committed by its representatives (authorities, their officials) is based on the principles of justice. At the same time, in the absence of unlawfulness in the actions of the state and a causal link between the actions of its representatives and the harm to the victims, the compensation for non-pecuniary damage (caused, for example, to victims of violent crimes, acts of terrorism) is performed proceeding from humanistic considerations of social justice, aimed at affirming the primacy of human dignity.