Pure Economic Loss In Product Liability Context: Theories And Practices

Pure economic loss is a new topic in the tort law field at present, which has not only become the theory focus to scholars, but also become a difficult and urgent problem that the courts and legislation bodies are facing. In our country, the lack of regulation on pure economic loss in Product Quality Law makes courts usually at a loss what to do when facing such cases. This paper observes the compensation system of pure economic loss in product liability in foreign countries, and points out that it's necessary and feasible to give pure economic loss tortious protection by analyzing the present survival state of pure economic loss in our country, and try to establish the related system according with our national conditions in order to provide theory support for the perfection of our legislation. This paper is divided into four parts:In chapter one, from the start of general meanings of pure economic loss, and then the special meanings of pure economic loss in product liability are analyzed. Lastly , from the angle of summarization and enumeration , the pure economic loss in product liability is redefined , which refers to the economic loss resulting from product defect directly suffered by victims , which is irrelative to injury to person or property , including ricocheted loss , transferred loss , injury to product itself and other expected interests loss.In chapter two, the author observes the foreign countries' attitudes towards pure economic loss and ways to deal with pure economic loss in product liability. From the angle of theory, there exists affirmative theories, negative theories and compromise theories about pure economic loss in foreign countries , and the compromise theories have been the leading theories .From the angle of legislation , although the special laws in foreign countries nearly exclude pure economic loss , the general laws in foreign countries almost include pure economic loss. From the angle of judicature , countries in common law system only give pure economic loss in product liability tortuous protection in specific conditions , while in civil law system France protect pure economic loss in product liability widely according to contract law and German protected pure economic loss in compound products by interpreting absolute right extendedly. It's clear that the majority of foreign countries give tortuous protection to pure economic loss. Therefore, it's general trend to give tortuous protection to pure economic loss in product liability.Chapter three studies the survival space of pure economic loss in product liability in our country. From the angle of theory, scholars in our country accept "exclusionary rule", which is in fact fragile through analysis. From the angle of legislation, the article 106 in General Rule of Civil Law and article 44 in Product Quality Law can all include pure economic loss in product liability by extended interpretation. From the angle of judicature, courts in our country adopt the similar ways as German. On the whole, there exists certain space for pure economic loss in product liability in our country, but the obscurity of current law make courts in awkward position. So the law should be perfected as soon as possible.Chapter four establishes protection system of pure economic loss in product liability in our country. By comparing the advantages and disadvantages of contractual protection and tortious protection we can find tortious protection is more reasonable, and the mixed model of general clause and categorization is the best choice. As to the liability basis of pure economic loss in product liability, the fault liability is superior to strict liability. As far as the scope of compensation, it's necessary to establish limited compensation rule. However, limiting such loss is depended on the design of reasonable tools to limit compensation.In sum, the compensation of pure economic loss in product liability is not a neglectable problem in our country. The choice of way to design related protect system is not only related to the perfection of Product Quality Law in our country, but also have far-reaching influence on the future trend of Tort Law and even Civil Law Code in our country.