懲罰性賠償金乃是在補償性賠償外，為懲罰被告具有惡意動機的不法行為以及為嚇阻被告或他人於未來從事類似之不法行為而所給予的賠償金。因此，懲罰性賠償金之目的乃在於懲罰被告之不法行為及嚇阻被告或他人再為相類似的錯誤行為。儘管懲罰性賠償金之法律制度存在著許多適當性之爭議，但因其亦具有一定公共政策之目的，故為美國普遍各州所接受而樂於妥善建立的制度。 由於科技的進步與經濟的發展使得現今社會消費者問題日益嚴重。因此，台灣與中國大陸分別於一九九三年制訂了「消費者保護法」以保護消費者之權利，並且於該法中引入了懲罰性賠償金的法律制度。是故，隨著兩岸交流日漸頻繁，實有必要對於彼此間關於懲罰性賠償金之法律制度作一比較研究。

Punitive damages are damages, other than compensatory damages, awarded against a defendant to punish him for his outrageous conduct and to deter him and others like him from similar conduct in the future. Consequently, the purpose of punitive damages is to punish the defendant for his wrongdoing and to deter him and others from similar misconduct. Even if the legal system of punitive damages has a lot of argument in suitability, it is also provided with certain purpose of public policy, so that, yet, in widespread states in the United State of America, the acceptance of punitive damages is too popular and well established to be discarded. Consumer problem have become an issue that concerns modem legal systems due to the rapid development of scientific research and economic prosperity. For this reason, Taiwan and Mainland China separately drew up “Consumer Protection Law” in 1993, and to apply them as means for the protection of consumer rights, and the punitive damages system also adopted in these systems. Therefore, following the increasingly frequent exchange between the Taiwan and mainland China, a comparative study of punitive damages system in the two statutes has become more important.