Restrictions On The Application Of Equitable Liability

Equitable liability means where neither the victim nor the actor is at fault for the occurrence of a damage, the people’s court may order both of them to share the damage based on the actual situations. The establishment of equitable liability has brought a great impact on the concept of fault liability of traditional tort law, while the provisions on equitable liability seem to be quite flexible, thus comparing with no-fault liability, equitable liability actually has brought greater impact on fault liability. The functions of modern tort law reside in the balance between the remedy of interests and the freedom of private behavior, which is very likely to be impeded by improper application of equitable liability. Therefore, it is necessary to put some reasonable restrictions on the application of equitable liability.Based on the considerations above, firstly, this article will start with the basic theories of equitable liability, elaborate the necessity of restricting the application of equitable liability, as the basis of further discussion; secondly, this article will study on domestic and overseas legislations on the restrictions on the application of equitable liability, and review the related legislations of our country through contradistinction; thirdly, this article will analyze the restrictions on the application of equitable liability in China’s judicial practice by case study, and point out the existing problems; finally, base on the legislative and judicial practice, this article will focus on the specific restrictions on the application of equitable liability, and put forward a set of reasonable and operational restriction rules. The main body of this article is divided into four chapters, and the main contents are as follows:Chapter1is about the basic theories of equitable liability and the necessity of restricting the application of equitable liability. This chapter will study on the concept and characteristics of equitable liability, and analyze the value and status of equitable liability, then elaborate the necessity of restricting the application of equitable liability.Chapter2is a study on legislations on the restrictions on the application of equitable liability. This chapter will sort out the legislative practice of restrictions on application of equitable liability on comparative law, as well as the related legislations of our country, and review on the basis of comparison.Chapter3is about the application of equitable liability in China’s judicial practice. This chapter will classify the cases on equitable liability in China’s judicial practice, discuss the considerations that the court may take into account in the application of equitable liability, and analyze the abuse of equitable liability at present.Chapter4is about the construction of restrictions on the application of equitable liability. As the core of the article, according to the mentioned legislative and judicial practice, this article will put forward specific restrictions on the application of equitable liability, such as the subject of application, the types of applicable cases, the constitutive elements, and the considerations in the application of equitable liability.