On The Identification Of Fault In Reputation Infringement

Right of reputation is not only a product of modern society, but also an importantsymbol of social civilization. Repute is directly related to the human dignity of citizens andlegal persons. It is the basic condition for civil subjects to engage in civil activities, and evenother social activities. Thus, the right of reputation is an essential personality right. Inconsequence, many nations have more or less made laws on reputation protection. However,the protection of right of reputation is mainly reflected in the relief for the infringed reputation,while its premise is the exact identification of the reputation infringement. Therefore, it is ofgreat importance to clearly identify its core constitutive elements–fault, whether in theory orpractice.The dissertation intends to fully draw on the reference to the theories andjudicial experience China has achieved, and to foreign reputation protectivesystems of different countries and legal systems. Following the civil logic and theprinciple of balance of interests, it explores the identification of fault in reputationinfringement and corresponding remedies in depth, to help perfect the legislationand judicial protection of right of reputation.Except the foreword and conclusion, the dissertation is composed of four parts asfollows:Part I is “the basic theories of right of reputation.” Firstly, it analyzes the basic conceptand characteristics of right of reputation, as groundwork. Secondly, it introduces the author’sopinion of the constitutive elements of reputation infringement, based on the theories ofdifferent legal systems and China’s civil circle.Part II is “the basic theories of fault and its identification and defense in reputationinfringement”. As main theories about the nature of fault and its identification, the subjectivetheory and objective theory are too unilateral. Therefore, the author appreciates the eclecticism.Lastly, it mainly explores the identification of fault and its demur incidents in reputationinfringement.Part III is “the introduction of China’s legislation and judicial practice of fault inreputation infringement and the problems in the identification.” This chapter is divided intotwo parts-the legislation and the judicial practice. Firstly, it analyzes the shortcomings oflegislation with the introduction of its evolution and current situation; secondly, it summarizesthe judicial practice of identification of fault in reputation infringement and analyzes itsshortage on the basis of typical cases.Part IV is “the concrete ideas to perfect the identification of fault in reputationinfringement”. Firstly, it puts forward the thoughts to perfect the legislation of fault in reputation infringement. Secondly, it especially discusses the public figures’ right of reputation,the media’s reputation infringement and the reputation infringement in the internet in the nextpart, for their importance and particularity. After the summary of these three’s deficiency, thepaper proposes some concrete thoughts to prefect them, with a hope to help perfect China’slegal system of the identification of fault in reputation infringement.