On Environmental Joint Tort

Environmental joint tort is a combination of Environmental tort and joint tort, and it’s the most complicated and difficult to be settled in environmental disputes. Occurring with combined pollutions and other illegal environmental behaviors, environmental joint tort grows in numbers. Research on environmental joint tort is significant:it’s not only beneficial to deeply recognize the nature of environmental joint tort, but also beneficial to improve legislation and administration of justice about environmental joint tort, aiming to protect the rights of the victims, to balance the interests of tortfeasors and to promote the environment protection and sustainable development.Environmental joint tort is a multi-disciplinary subject which involves in the sciences of environment law, tort law, administrative law, procedural law and so on. Hence, multiple research methods are needed such as empirical analysis, value analysis and systematic analysis, etc.As to the phenomenon of environmental joint tort, it is particular in aspects such as pollution type and polluting behavior, resulting in complicated case process. Besides general reasons, the direct reasons of environmental joint tort include medium role of environment, concentrating tendency of pollutant sources, converging effect of pollutants, and universality of unlawful acts. The features of environmental joint tort include multiple subjects, combined behaviors, identical result, joint and several liability, etc.As to the nature of environmental joint tort, it depends on knowledge of "jointness". This dissertation holds the opinion that common consequence is the nature of environmental joint tort. In other words, an environmental joint tort could be established if multiple behaviors lead to identical result. Common consequence not only conforms to the objectification of joint tort, but also reflects the features of environmental joint tort. Common consequence not only reflects the basic idea of corrective justice, but also reflects distributive justice in risk society. Based on common consequence, environmental joint tort can be classified into four types:joint tort in narrow sense, joint tort of dangerous acts, associated joint tort, and joint damage tort.As to the liability of environmental joint tort, compared with several liability, joint and several liability has many advantages. In legislation, the Article 67 of Tort Liability Law of China doesn’t clearly define the environment tort which involves several polluters as joint tort or individual tort. This article can’t be explained the rule as several liability, but the rule to determine the internal liability among tortfeasors. Only if an environmental tort involving several polluters could be determined as joint tort or individual tort with help of other articles, this article is used to classify the internal liabilities of the polluters. There are some factors, involving tortfeasors’ fault, sewage discharge outlet, pollutant, and compliance record, etc., would be considered to define the internal liability among tortfeasors. The tortfeasors should undertake the proof burden regarding these factors.As to the remedies of environmental joint tort, the basic remedies include reconciliation, administrative mediation, litigation, socialized relief, and so on. Judicial remedy is particular in defendant, jurisdiction, action form, burden of proof, liability limitation, etc., especially in wide application of joint action.As to the prevention of environmental joint tort, it’s necessary to prevent environmental joint tort from the perspective of regulating combined pollution. Meanwhile, regulating combined pollution also needs multiple methods. These methods include industry centralized planning, total amount control, centralized management and taking remedial measures on behalf. Above regulating rules and other supervision methods could play active roles in preventing combined pollution and environmental joint tort.