Debtor's Responsibility To A Third Party Resulting From Research

Breach of contract is due to a party's fault, or such objective conditions as natural disasters, acts of a government, social unusual events, or acts of a third party. In the first situation, the liability shall be borne in accordance with both the fault liability principle and the strict liability principle, In the second situation, while the liability shall be exempted according to the system of force majeure and unexpected events under the fault liability principle, the frustration theory can be used as a reason that the liability is not borne under the strict liability principle. In the last situation, however, whether the liability is borne or not is not so sure. It involves not only the system of a third party infringing upon a creditor's rights, bearing the fault of a person assisting performance, but also the relativity theory of contracts and the legal reasons for exonerating contractual damages.In this thesis, the author classifies the third parties as four, and based on the exploration of pertinent systems of the Civil Law and the Common Law, studies on the issues of whether the debtor assumes the liability and then what liability should be borne.Part Ⅰ: The debtor takes on the fault of the person assisting performance. In the fault liability cases of the specific provisions of Chinese Contract Law, the establishment of the debtor bearing the fault includes two elements. One is that the acts of the assistant belong to performance; the other is that the assistant is at fault. In the cases of the strict liability, on the other hand, only one element shall be met, that is, the acts of the assistant is those of performance. The liability borne by the debtor belongs to the guarantee liability.Part Ⅱ: The debtor takes on the direct encroachment by a third party on a creditor. If a third party who is not an assistant encroaches the property or person of a creditor under the protection of a debtor and the debtor is at fault, the debtor shall assume the encroachment of the third party. This situation shall cause the debtor's liability for breach of contract and the third party's liability for tort.Part Ⅲ: The debtor takes on the indirect infringement by a third party on a creditor's rights. If a third party who is not an assistant encroaches indirectly a creditor's rights and the debtor is not at fault, the debtor should be exempted from liability which is completely borne by the third party, but, if he himself is at fault, the debtor and the third party shall be held jointly liable or untruely jointly liable.Part Ⅳ: The exploration of a third party's acts as legal exempting reasons. A third party who is not an assistant assumes the liability of indirectly encroaching a creditor's rights on condition that he is at intention, so if he is not intentional, such liability doesn't exist and he only bears the liability for tort on the debtor. Here emerges the question if the debtor should take the place of the third party to take on the creditor's damages on condition that he is not at fault and the damages is caused completely by the third party. The author's answers is "no", but the author holds that the debtor can give appropriate compensation for the creditor's loss if he can get the compensation equivalent to the performance interest.