contract-law canada payment
Must there be a limit on late fees?
<p>Generally speaking must late fees have some sort of cap or limit? For example if it were the libraries policy could they really charge $100 per day for unreturned books? A more realistic example, often contractors have a late fee for late payments. Could it accumulate indefinitely (for example $10 per day) or must it be a flat rate or have an upper limit (for example it stops after 14 days)?</p>

<h2>Fees, damages, fines and penalties</h2>
<p>A library late fee is probably not a fee - it’s either damages or a fine.</p>
<p>A fee is an amount charged/paid for the provision of a service. An architect charges a fee to design your house. The DMV charges a fee to issue your drivers licence.</p>
<p>Damages are what you pay to compensate someone for harming them. The harm can be physical or economic, and can come from breach of contract or a tort. Late fees charged under your contract with the library are to compensate them for you breaching the contract by not returning the book on time. When a specific figure is in the contract to start with, this is called liquidated damage. The figure must be a genuine pre-estimate of the cost to the library for a beach, if not, into a penalty (q.v.).</p>
<p>Fines are what a government charges you when you break the law. The fine can be any amount that the law allows. If your library is a public library then the late fee may actually be a fine. If so, it must be no more than the amount legislated or regulated.</p>
<p>Penalties are attempts to punish someone for breaking a contract. Damages become a penalty when they are excessive and punitive rather than restorative. Penalties are unenforceable.</p>
