Research Of Owner's Liability For Accidents Of Rental Motor Vehicle

Article 49 of the China Tort Liability Law clarifies that only if the owner of motor vehicle is at fault for a traffic accident,he or she shall be liable for the corresponding compensation when the owner and operator are separate under lease contract.Since controversy in judicial practice related to legitimacy and specification is never settled,this paper studies and analyzes specific judgment of the main qualification of the custodian,the identification of the custodians of vehicle and the tort liability patterns for accidents of rental motor vehicle.This paper is composed by six parts:First,we reviewed the existing studies about owner's liability for accidents of rental motor vehicle and introduces three main issues: 1.Can the owner be responsible as the custodian for the rental motor vehicle? 2.The standard of the custodian.3.The type of owner's tort liability.Second,we discuss the subjective status of the owner in Article 49 of the Tort Liability Law.Based on judicial practice,this part analyzes the basis and thoughts of excluding the owner liability of the custodian in the current law.Basically speaking,Article 49 is commonly regarded as general clause of traffic accident under separation of owner of operator.Then we exams the judgment criteria of Article 49 on two folds: one is the “operation control and operation benefit”,the dual standard,in practice;the other is the rebuttal of “behavior responsibility and object responsibility”,concluding that the recognition of the custodian should accords dual standard.Lastly,it pointed out that the present law is too absolute and unitary in the identification of custodian in the case of leasing or borrowing motor vehicles,and the owner has the practical basis as the custodian.Third,this paper illustrates the certification of owner as the custodians of vehicle.This part proves the possibility and legitimacy of the motor vehicle owner to be recognized as the custodian from the legislative purpose of tort liability law and no-fault liability theory.It pointed out that will help to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of victims,prevent accidents,and at the same time not excessively increase the responsibility of owners and restrict their freedom of action.Fourth,we demonstrate the situations and verification to waive the status of the custodians of vehicle.Based on the practices of Germany and Japan,this part holds that owner shall not be included in the category of the custodian in all cases,and argues that the custodian should be exempted from the status of the custodian as long as the custodian can prove that he/she no longer enjoys operational dominance and operational interests at the time of the accident.The fifth part quantifies the liability forms of owner's liability for accidents in rental motor vehicle.We sort out the criteria of fault determinants first and evaluate the academic view of “corresponding liability”,concluding that when the owner and the operator are the same,the two parties bear jointly several liabilities.When the owner is not the custodian,the degree of fault of the owner is distinguished to determine the type of liability.Lastly,it makes the conclusion that when the rental motor vehicle traffic accident happens,the owner and the operator,as the co-custodian of the vehicle,should take jointly several liable.If the owner of a motor vehicle can prove that he no longer enjoys "operational control" and "operational interests" for the motor vehicle when the accident occurred,then the provisions of Article 49 of the Tort Liability Law shall apply.That is,he only bears the type of responsibility that is appropriate to his degree of fault.