The Development Of Application Of The Principle Of Suiting Penalty To Fault

Article 4(2)of the Administrative Penalty Law provides that "the establishment and enforcement of administrative penalties must be based on facts and are commensurate with the facts,nature,circumstances and social harms of the offenses."This provision is called the principle of suiting penalty to fault in the field of administrative penalty,generally believed that its origins from the principle of suiting punishment to crime of criminal law.However,this principle tends to be blurred in the practice of administrative law."Suzhou Dingsheng food company case",a Publicized Case by the Supreme People's Court,revised the administative penalty which was prescribed as evident injustice,and explained the circumstances,the penalty factor and judgment of equivalence,which was on behalf of the attitude of the Supreme Court on this issue.Based on the combing of the case and the development of the normative documents and judicial cases since the promulgation of the Administrative Penalty Law,it is pointed out that the principle of suiting penalty to fault has been enriched in the administrative law.There is a certain degree of interaction between norms and practices in the process,but they also has their own characteristics,and maintain a relatively independent of each other:With the help of construction technology of discretion benchmark,the norms refine the connotation of "fault",highlighting the subjective fault and the consequences,also stratify the "penalty",refining the type and extent of the amount of penalty;on the basis of respecting the discretion benchmark,judicial cases focus on the above elements,and judge the extent of the amount of penalty on a case-by-case basis.In this process of development,the key elements of the principle of suiting penalty to fault are gradually clear,that is,the principle of proportionality is the measuring of judgment of equivalence.It applies to the process of setting discretionary benchmarks by the executive authorities,and is the standard for judicial review by the judiciary.The applicable method which "Suzhou Dingsheng food company case" has identified reflects the above-mentioned development of the principle,which is typical.From the system positioning,the principle of suiting penalty to fault is the principle of proportionality in the field of administrative penalty,and the latter is the tool and scale of judgment of equivalence.At the same time,the principle of suiting penalty to fault is one of the obvious standards of obviously inappropriate judgment.From the development path,the efforts of norms and judicial cases show their own methods,and both perfect the specific application of the principle of suiting penalty to fault.However,the legal effect of discretion benchmark and the reasonable limits of judicial review and other issues raise some problems for the realization of case justice.After "Suzhou Dingsheng food company case",the development of the principle of suiting penalty to fault will continue to be related to the joint efforts of law norms and cases.