Русско-англо-русский юридический словарь

In the United States, a liquidated damage clause is intended to estimate damages in the event of non-performance or breach of contract. [...] The intent of liquidated damages is simply to measure damages that are hard to prove once incurred. If the liquidated damages are disproportionate, they can, however, be declared a penalty. The clause is then void, and recovery will be limited to the actual damage that results from the breach. [...]

In civil law countries, the attitude toward contractual penalties is quite different from the common law approach. The Napoleonic Code, upon which most civil codes are based, allowed for penalties to encourage performance of contractual obligations. (This is the precise rationale that is rejected in the United States.) (lexology.com)

Two such standards are “people-to-people” travel and travel for the “exportation, importation or transmission of information or informational materials”, both part of the US rationale that a cultural exchange between Americans and Cubans will promote democracy. (The Guardian)

He said he was skeptical of the explanation that there was a justifiable legal rationale for Caro Quintero’s release. (Daily Mail)

It’s also impossible not to imagine what else, and who else, officials might seek to track, once they’ve come up with the legal rationale for doing so. (The Washington Post)