On The Relief Of Self-damage Of Defective Products

With the development of social science,technology and industry,there are more and more cases of product liability disputes.Among them,the issue of tort liability relief or breach of contract liability relief is controversial in practice and theory circles.From the perspective of legislative interpretation,Article 1202 of China’s Civil Code has included the damage of defective products into the protection scope of tort liability,but the Product Quality Law still stipulates that the damage of defective products will not be relieved.How to apply conflicting laws in the end has caused controversy.Because there are some contradictions in the legislation,as well as the disunity of academic viewpoints,in judicial practice,judges also have differences on the nature of the damage of defective products,resulting in the phenomenon of different judgments in the same case.Combing the viewpoints of legislation,academic theory and judicial judgment in China,it is considered that there are limitations in relieving the damage of defective products by default liability.Incorporating the damage to defective products into the protection of tort legal relations through pure economic loss path can not only better protect consumption,but also can not infinitely expand the scope of tort legal relations.This paper is mainly divided into four parts.The first part mainly defines the damage of defective products,and points out the relief dilemma caused by legislative contradictions and academic disputes.In the second part,through the collection of judicial judgment cases and the collation of court judgment opinions,it is found that the courts have different opinions on the qualitative damage of defective products.The court is more inclined to apply tort liability relief to the damage of defective products,and some courts provide relief to them through contractual liability.In the process of court judgment,there are some problems,such as confusion in the application of legal provisions,lack of uniform standards for the identification of "defects",and different compensation scope.The third part is the introduction and comment of the theory.There are three arguments about the nature of the damage of defective products in Chinese academic circles: "liability for breach of contract","tort liability" and "tort limitation".Among them,the theory of liability for breach of contract is difficult to break through the limitation of competing claims and contract relativity,and there is also the disadvantage that defective products are difficult to distinguish from other properties.The tort limitation theory may increase the litigant’s litigation burden and cause the confusion of the debt law system.In the theory of tort liability,through the investigation of comparative law,it is considered that Germany regards the damage of defective products as an infringement of ownership,which may lead to unlimited expansion of tort liability.Considering the existing legal system and reality of our country,we can learn from the practice of American courts,and take the damage of defective products as a condition of "danger",and bring them into the protection of tort legal relationship through the path of pure economic loss.The fourth part is to explore the path of applying tort liability model to remedy the damage of defective products in China.First of all,the application of tort liability relief path not only makes relief more convenient,but also eliminates the disadvantages of applying tort liability relief.Secondly,through legislative interpretation,it is clear that Article 1202 of China’s Civil Code should take precedence over Article 41 of the Product Quality Law,and the unreasonable defects of products should be taken as the premise of applying tort liability relief.Finally,the construction of specific rules is improved by clearly classifying defect standards,applying different imputation principles to different kinds of defects and reasonably limiting compensation for indirect losses.