478
O'Connor, J., dissenting
(Alexander, L. C. B.) (Where damages are so excessive that "the Courts are of opinion . . . that the Jury have acted under the influence of undue motives, or of misconception, it is their duty to interfere"); Travis v. Barger, 24 Barb. 614, 629 (N. Y. 1857) (reciting Lord Ellenborough's view that, "if it appeared from the amount of damages given, as compared with the facts of the case laid before jury, that the jury must have acted under the influence either of undue motives, or some gross error or misconception of the subject, the court would have thought it their duty to submit the question to the consideration of a second jury"); Flannery v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 15 D. C. 111, 125 (1885) (When the punitive damages award is disproportionate, "we feel it our duty to interfere").
Judicial intervention in cases of excessive awards also has the critical function of ensuring that another ancient and fundamental principle of justice is observed—that the punishment be proportionate to the offense. As we have observed, the requirement of proportionality is "deeply rooted and frequently repeated in common-law jurisprudence." Solem v. Helm, 463 U. S. 277, 284-285 (1983). See, e. g., Le Gras v. Bailiff of Bishop of Winchester, Y. B. Mich. 10 Edw. II, pl. 4 (C. P. 1316), reprinted in 52 Selden Society 3, 5 (1934) (amercement vacated and bailiff ordered to "take a moderate amercement proper to the magnitude and manner of that of-fence"); First Statute of Westminster, 3 Edw. I, ch. 6 (1275). Because punitive damages are designed as punishment rather than compensation, Browning-Ferris, 492 U. S., at 297 (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (citing cases), courts historically have required that punitive damages awards bear a reasonable relationship to the actual harm imposed.3 This Court similarly has recognized that
3 Ante, at 459, and n. 25 (plurality opinion) ("[S]tate courts have long held that 'exemplary damages allowed should bear some proportion to the real damage sustained,' " quoting Grant v. McDonogh, 7 La. Ann. 447, 448 (1852), and citing other cases). See, e. g., McCarthy v. Niskern, 22 Minn. 90, 91-92 (1875) (Punitive damages "enormously in excess of what may
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