The Economic Analysis On The Reasonable Extent Of Business Operators’ Security Obligations

In recent years, more and more accidents have happened in businesspremises while consumers are spending time in these places, includingpersonal damages and property damages. Issues related to businessoperators’ security obligations have also caused wide attention anddiscussion. One of these issues is how to judge the business operators havealready fulfill the obligation to ensure the safety to the reasonable extent.Concerning this, three cases have been chosen, which all focus on thereasonable extent of business operators’ security obligations. Based onviews from judicial practice and scholars, this paper aimed to propose anew idea and method in the perspective of economic analysis——theminimization of social cost and Hand Formula. The author wishes to helpthe judges a new idea and a new method so that the logic of verdicts can beimproved as well as the judicial practice of our country.Apart from the preface and the conclusion, there are four chapters inthis paper.Chapter Ⅰaims to raise the main point from three cases. These casesdiffer in characteristics and types, but the similarity is that they all focus onhow to judge the business operators that they have already fulfilled theobligation to ensure the safety to the reasonable extent.Chapter Ⅱ aims to make summaries from judicial practice and somescholars on how to judge the reasonable extent of business operators’security obligations. Firstly, the author studies on the necessity to limit thebusiness operators’ security obligations to a reasonable extent; Then severaltypical views of scholars have been summarized; Finally, based on practiceand views from scholars, the author put forward four factors concerning the reasonable extent of the business operators’ security obligations.Chapter Ⅲ aims to analyze problems and put forward the economicanalysis method officially. This chapter is based on the theory of theminimization of social cost, which reflects the pursuit of efficiency as wellas the balance between consumers and business operators. In the view ofthe business operators’security obligations, social costs can be divided intotwo parts——business operator costs and consumer costs. Theeconomical standard of “reasonable extent” is to minimize total social costs.The judgment standard of the operators’reasonable security obligations isthat business operator costs should exceed consumer costs.Chapter Ⅳ aims to solve problems and Hand Formula will be used inthis chapter. In the beginning of the chapter, the origin and content of HandFormula will be introduced. Based on the above, the author tries to applyHand Formula into the judgment of whether business operators havefulfilled reasonable security obligations. In this process, the author willstate what is Hand Formula, and then put forward a kind of analysis, afterwhich Hand Formula is used in the three cases. Last but not the least,further statements will be made in the end of the chapter.