The Standards for Proving Damages and Its Amount: A Comparative Study under Transnational Instruments and International Arbitration Awards

Abstract

Defining the applicable standards for proving and measurement of damages constitute one of the most significant issues under the law of damages. In principle, an aggrieved party, who claims compensation for damages based on contractual liability is responsible for showing the existence and the amount of losses suffered or to be suffered. Due to great importance of the issue, transnational instruments of contract law, such as UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UPICC), Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) have set out, explicitly or implicitly, special standards such as reasonable certainty, reasonably likely to occur and so on for proving damages; By contrast, the Iranian laws and regulations including the Civil Code do not set out such standards. The legal scholarship and jurisprudence have also failed to address the issue. Therefore, a comparative study of the issue with particular look at international instruments and arbitral awards could provide a reliable source of guidance. This paper analyzes the general and specific standards for proving damages and those situations that fall outside of ambit of the standards such as late payment damages. By doing so, the paper tries to open the debate in Iranian law.

Keywords

• standard for proving damages
• reasonable certainty
• reasonably likely to occur
• transnational instruments
• arbitral awards