The Research On The Tort Liability For Damages Caused By Aircraft To Third Parties

The tort liability for damages caused by aircraft to third parties is not only the important content of air law, but also a key part of international law and of tort liability law in civil codes. Aviation accidents like the wreck and crash of aircraft bring about damages to second parties, i.e. passengers, and also result in paroxysmal and disastrous damages to the body and possessions of third parties on ground and water surface. Despite the constant attention attached to the former, the later is often neglected or left behind. As the first aviation private law system, the Warsaw system has played a key role in securing the interests of second parties; however, the Rome system, as the second aviation private law system, needs urgently modernization reforms, for its long-time ineffectiveness in protecting the interests of third parties and being out of time. From a comprehensive angle of air law, tort law, and international law, applying methods of historical research, comparative research, economic analysis, and interest analysis, this dissertation researches basic theories on and concrete systems of tort liability for damages caused by aircraft to the interests of third parties on ground and water surface, aiming at pushing the modernization of the Rome Convention, the modification and perfection of the Civil Aviation Law of China, and the enactment of the Tort Liability Law.Chapter I,"Introduction of Compensation Liability for Aviation Damages", mainly presents the connotation and extension of concepts concerned, like"aircraft","third party"and"damage", and defines the nature of damage compensation liability. According to the motions of aircraft, damages caused by aircraft to third parties can be divided into three categories: damages caused by"direct contact"or"impact", damages caused by ultra-low-altitude flight, and damages caused by sudden or normal over-flight. This chapter also investigates the characteristics of and the international and domestic lawmaking on compensation liability for damages caused by aircraft to third parties. Chapter II,"Strict Liability for Compensation for Damages Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties", mainly compares and differentiates the concepts concerning strict liability, reviewing and presenting international and domestic systems of strict (absolute) liability for compensation for damages caused by aircraft to third parties. Most importantly, this chapter also justifies strict liability in this area.Chapter III,"Fault Liability for Compensation for Damages Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties", firstly introduces the connotation and extension of"fault", evaluating the status of"fault"in the area of damages caused by aircraft to third parties, and analyzing the reasons for applying fault liability in this area. This chapter then reviews the law and cases about fault liability, analyzes in detail the cause and representation of aircraft manager's"fault", and investigates the criteria for"fault"commonly used in this area and the cases. At last, this chapter analyzes the elements of"fault"in terrorist skyjacking, whether skyjacking is force majeure, and the impact of compensation funds for victims to"fault liability".Chapter IV,"Liability Taking in Compensation for Damages Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties", firstly confirms aircraft's manager, owner, and illegal user as liable parties for damage compensation. By applying the theories of property supervision behavior, employer liability, and"deep pocket", this chapter also presents in detail the theoretical basis of the compensation liability of each liable party, and introduces the challenges of 9.11 terrorist skyjacking to the current liable party system. Finally, this chapter discusses the possible approaches to carrying out the compensation liability for damages to third parties: illegal invasion litigation, infestation or impairing litigation, negligence tort litigation, and anti-expropriation litigation.Chapter V,"Liability Limitation in Compensation for Damages Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties", mainly introduces the connotation of liability limitation in damage compensation, investigates the history and current situations of international lawmaking about the system of liability limitation in compensation for third-party damages, and compares the international law with the domestic counterpart. This chapter also summarizes the rationalities of the liability limitation system, and reevaluates the reasonability of its survival. Lastly, issues on third-party liability insurance related to liability limitation system are discussed; regulations about aviation third-party liability insurance in Rome system, the Proposal Draft of International Law Association, European Union law, and domestic laws of various countries are investigated; the relationship between third-party liability insurance and liability limitation system is revealed in the chapter.Chapter VI,"Liability Counterplea in Compensation for Damages Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties", introduces the connotation and significance of liability counterplea, and discusses whether force majeure, joint negligence, causality, contingencies, ingoing infestation, consent of victim, and behavior of third parties can be the reasons for liability counterplea.Chapter VII,"Deficiencies in China's Law-Making on Tort Liability for Damages Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties and Regulatory Conventions to Be Perfected", by analyzing the regulations on the liability for the third party damages caused by aircraft in China's current lawmaking, the draft of the Civil Codes, and the draft of the Tort Liability Law, suggests the perfection of the lawmaking system and pattern of the tort liability for the third party damages caused by aircraft and the system of liability assumption and distribution, and references to foreign and international regulations concerned while defying the category of aircraft damages, the double standard system, and supplementary compensation fund system. Moreover, it calls on that China's lawmaking limit the absolute or strict liability and identify fault liability for the third party damages caused by aircraft.