Criteria for claiming compensation for secondary psychiatric victims in English law and its application in Iranian law

Psychiatric damage is any damage to the psyche of people that causes their illness. Sometimes the victim himself is not exposed to the accident, but as a result of the accident to another person, suffers from Psychiatric injury, which are called "secondary victims". Given that the scope of such victim is wide, more restrictions should be applied to compensate for the Psychiatric damage of such victims. Designing and identifying an appropriate and efficient rule in this subject requires examining various aspects of the subject and comparative study. A study of British jurisprudence reveals the richness of this legal system in the face of this challenge. Accordingly, the main question of this article is what are the criteria for claiming compensation for secondary victims in English and Iranian law? In England, special and mandatory conditions are set to limit the scope of these victims, while in Iranian law there are no special rules. In England, the victim must have a close emotional tie with the immediate victim and must be close in time and space to the accident and must observe the accident. In addition, his psychiatric damage must have resulted from a sudden shock and a horrific event. This study shows that the restrictive mechanisms of psychological compensation used in English law have some shortcomings, but can be useful in Iranian law to achieve foreseeability and directness of damages.