On The Legal Application Of Causality In The Recognition Of Work-related Injury

Based on the characteristics of work-related injuries,the identification of causality is at the core of the identification of work-related injuries.As an integral part of social law,the causation under the industrial injury insurance law inherits the tradition of tort causation theory from civil law,especially the equivalent causation theory in continental law system and the proximity rule in common law system.Because of the limitation of tort law itself and insufficient protection and care for workers with industrial injury,various countries should try to remodel the theory of causality of industrial injury from the theoretical framework of tort in civil law.Germany has created the theory of important conditions.Japan has removed the subjective predictability of causality in the field of original tort and developed it into an objective one.Based on the case law tradition,Britain and the United States have created their own unique risk theory and employer's interest rules.The origin of China's industrial injury insurance system was influenced by the policy factors of long-term public ownership by the Soviet Union.The theoretical research on industrial injury identification started at the end of last century.With the introduction of the Regulations on Industrial Injury Insurance at the beginning of this century,the theoretical research has gradually deepened.For a long time,China's theoretical research has focused on the specific analysis of the elements,principles and circumstances of industrial injury identification,lacking in in-depth thinking on the systematization of causality in industrial injury identification.The theoretical results are scattered in the determination of "working reasons" in the elements of industrial injury identification,especially in the construction of theoretical theory based on the principle of inclined protection,ignoring the balance of interests of employers.Note.On the other hand,in legislation and practice,although causality has been tentatively incorporated into the application of law,there are still some problems,such as the lack of application of causality,the retention of the residual liability for fault in civil law,the different standards of judicial and administrative application,which lead to the adverse consequences of wide and severe identification of industrial injuries,which cannot achieve the balance of interests between employers and employees,and it is urgent to clarify the causality between employers and employees,and the applicable standard of law in the determination of industrial injury.Extraterritorial German,Japanese and American theories and application experience of causation in industrial injury determination can be used for reference to solve the problem of legal application of causation in industrial injury determination in China.Comparing with the advanced theory and experience of other countries,we should adopt Japanese equivalent causality theory and German important condition theory as well as American employer's benefit rule as the theoretical guidance for the application of causality in the identification of industrial injury in the future.At the institutional level,it is necessary to clarify the attitude of applying the causality of work-related injuries by legislation,strictly limit the presumptive causality and rationally apply the advantageous principle in practice,and unify the criteria of determining the administrative and judicial causality.