What is the meaningful content of the so-called principle of full compensation in Brazilian law?

Abstract

This paper aims to assess what is the meaningful content of the so-called principle of full compensation in the Brazilian law. By means of an analysis of the different models on how the principle was established during the development of Brazilian statutory tort law, the paper will decompose all the constitutive elements of the equivalency rule established between compensation and damage, to demonstrate the legal- semantic limits of its understanding. The conclusion is that the “principled nature” of the full compensation rule should not be perceived as the core element of such legal norm, since it is structured as an equivalency rule, and that the enlargement tendency in case law should be criticized and avoided.