Aggravated and Exemplary Damages
The Report of the Law Commission on Aggravated, Exemplary and Restitutionary Damages should be adopted in relation to its recommendations that legislation should provide that: (a) aggravated damages should only be awarded to compensate for mental distress and should have no punitive element; (b) exemplary damages should be retained (although re-titled as punitive damages).
- No published evidence that the Law Commission's recommendations on aggravated, exemplary or restitutionary damages were adopted through legislation has been identified to March 2026.
- Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which addressed related costs issues, was never commenced and was repealed by the Media Act 2024 on 24 July 2024 (Media Act 2024, Section 50, legislation.gov.uk).
How was this evidence gathered?
Response
Not Accepted
Response
Not AcceptedThis recommendation was not implemented. The government did not formally respond to civil justice recommendations in the Prime Minister's statement of 29 November 2012. Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which would have created a costs incentive mechanism, was enacted but never commenced. On 1 March 2018, the Secretary of State announced that Section 40 would not be commenced and would be repealed. Section 40 was repealed by Section 50 of the Media Act 2024 (Royal Assent 24 May 2024). Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/leveson-consultation-response
Published Evidence
Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.
The Law Commission recommendations on aggravated and exemplary damages that Leveson recommended adopting were not implemented through legislation.
View detailed findings
Not implemented. The Law Commission recommendations were not adopted.