A Research On The Rule Of Foreseeability In Damages For Breach Of Contract

Article 113 of Chinese Contract Law clearly provides that lost profit is included in the amount of compensation in the case of breach of contract, but this article fails to stipulate the object, standard and burden of proof of foreseeability clearly. And in terms of judicial practice, there is lack of detailed and persuasive explanations and reasonings. Therefore, it is necessary to give the concrete study on the foreseeability rule for the purpose of applying it more reasonably and properly.The first part of this paper is an overview of foreseeability rule. Firstly, the author discusses the scope and nature of damages arising from breach of contract, this seems a bit redundant, but he holds that figuring out the scope of damages in breach of contract, pointing out the problems needed to be aware of in assessing lost profit, comparing lost profit with loss of chance will lay a solid foundation for further discussion on foreseeability rule. Next, the author combs the theoretical origin and development of foreseeability rule. In order to have a more thorough understanding of predictability rules, the author makes a comparison between the foreseeability rule and the relative causality in German law.The second part, this paper researches on the contents of foreseeability rule and its application. On the standard of the foreseeability rule, the author thinks that this question should take into account the wider and wider use of the Internet, the way that information disseminates and the increase of information transmission, which will improve people’s ability to predict the new situation. About what should be foreseen, the answer to this question depends on the types of contracts to determine whether the party in breach should anticipate the extent of the damage. This paper will expand the application scope of foreseeability rule, that is, the application of foreseeability rule in non-pecuniary damages arising from breach of contract and in rescission arising from the other party’s breach of contract. But in this case of non-pecuniary damages, the party in breach should foresee the possibility at a higher level than normal. In the case of rescission arising from breach of contract, the time standard of the party in breach that the foreseeability requires depends on the effect of the rescission, that is, whether the contract will be no legally binding ab initio or just in the future. In addition, in the case of intentionally breaching contract, based on the fact that default party has no real intention of the contracting and the need to protect the non-breaching party, predictability rules will be ruled out; In default of gross negligence, the author thinks that predictability rules can still apply, but time standard should be at the time of breaching the contract.In the last part of this article, the author will firstly comb the evolution of foreseeability rules in the civil legislation in China, and then analyze and comment the legal practice in China from the perspective of content, standards and the burden of. In the final section, the author thinks that it is necessary to learn and refer to the legal practice of foreseeability rule in common law and can give full play to the expert assessor in the profit loss and the role of the calculation.