A Study On The Supplementary Liability In China 's Tort Law

In the traditional theoretical research system of tort liability, the forms of tort liability can be divided into shared liability and joint liability, which is widely accepted in our judicial practice. But with the rapid development of social and political economy, the existing legal system can’t cope with the new situation in people’s daily interactions. Either joint liability or shared liability may lay abnormal light or heavy liability on the subjects, which neither meet the requirements of the times nor accord with the fair principle of civil law. And supplementary liability, as a special form of tort liability, arises at the historic moment. The establishment of supplementary liability, with unique legal connotation and applicable rules, is a big innovation in the field of tort liability law in our country. It makes up for the defect of the traditional forms of tort liability and well balances the interests of different parties, which has important theoretical value and practical significance. Due to the too simple legal provisions about supplementary liability in torts law and the too brief research on such a new form of tort liability, there still lie several problems about the concept and the relative rules to solve. This article is written trying to improve the system of supplementary tort liability and let it completely develop its function.This article consists of four parts. Part one is a summary of supplementary tort liability, which firstly defines the concept and characteristics of supplementary liability, and then explains the value of supplementary liability as an independent form of tort liability, and analyses problems of the existing rules of supplementary liability of torts law in term of legal provision and judicial practice.Part two mainly focuses on comparative analysis between supplementary liability and the relevant systems. Characteristics of supplement liability are firstly pointed out through comparative analysis, and then inspirations, that may provide helpful references for improving our Chinese supplementary liability system, are drawn from a comparison of similar theory and system in other countries.The third part indicates the main bodies of supplementary liability. From the perspective of subject of liability, this part analyses several common types of subjects which may be laid supplementary liability, such as administrators of public areas, mass action organizer and education institutions like kindergartens and primary schools, etc.Part four mainly talks about the applicable rules of supplementary liability, including identification, validity and litigation rules. First, certain essential pre-requisitions should be qualified for subjects to bear supplementary liability. Secondly, supplementary liability, as a typical form of tort liability, should have both internal and external legal validity. Finally, since supplementary liability comes out from judicial practice, litigation rules is particularly of substance to make supplementary liability more feasible and practical.