Cite as: 533 U. S. 1 (2001)
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
less expected, that the Compact might result in a monetary award of prejudgment interest over half a century after its signing.
The Court ignores all of this in awarding prejudgment interest to Kansas, seizing instead upon the compensatory rationale behind the criticism of the common law rule and awards of prejudgment interest on unliquidated claims for damages in general. See ante, at 10-11. I do not dispute that awards of interest are compensatory in nature or that, as a general matter, "a monetary award does not fully compensate for an injury unless it includes an interest component." Ante, at 10; see also National Gypsum Co., 515 U. S., at 195, n. 7. But, as the Court itself recognizes, see ante, at 11, our precedents make clear that, at least today and in the absence of a governing statute, awards of prejudgment interest on unliquidated claims for damages are governed not by any "rigid theory of compensation for money withheld," but rather by "considerations of fairness." Blau, 368 U. S., at 414 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see, e. g., General Motors Corp. v. Devex Corp., 461 U. S. 648, 651-653, and n. 5 (1983); Funkhouser, 290 U. S., at 168- 169. This is especially so where, as here, we are dealing with suits by one governmental body against another. See West Virginia v. United States, 479 U. S. 305, 309-312 (1987); Board of Comm'rs of Jackson Cty., 308 U. S., at 349-353.
There is nothing fair about awarding prejudgment interest as a remedy for the Compact's breach when all available evidence suggests that the signatories to the Compact neither intended nor contemplated such an unconventional remedy. Many compacts between States are old; suits involving compacts concerning water rights are late in starting and are invariably long pending; and, because statutes of limitation or the doctrine of laches is rarely available to preclude the steady buildup of prejudgment interest, the amount of such interest can become quite large, as Kansas' claim for approximately $41 million illustrates. See ante, at 9, n. 2. One
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