Criticizing the Idea of Decreasing Compensation Based on Financial Status of the Person Causing the Loss in Tort Law

According to Article 3 of Civil Responsibility Law (Tort Law), it is necessary for the judge to determine the amounts of damages by considering the circumstances of the case. One of the instances of such circumstances which may have an impact on determination of the amount of damages, as mentioned in Article 4(2) of Tort Law, is financial status of the person causing the loss. Following the Swiss law, the Iranian legislation has authorized the judge to award an amount of damages less than actual one if full compensation leads to the poverty of the person and his fault was trivial. Such authority which is founded on the basis of constitutive judgment in civil liability cases, no longer is valid in the Iranian legal system. Moreover, the Iranian law considers the financial status of the debtor by different mechanisms such as exemptions of certain properties from being confiscated for debt services and insolvency.