On Liability For International Damage

At present, science and technology in the world are making fast progress, which has brought about a global prosperous economy, however, at the same time, which has also resulted in danger and harm to the human world. And this has given birth to a new liability system----liability for international damage. In the new field, no final conclusion has yet been reached on such matters as nature, legal basis and so on. Therefore, this article approaches the problem of liability for international damage from the following aspects. At first, Chapter One is "A New Field of State Liability", in which Section One "Introduction" reviews the formation and development, content and features of liability for international damage (international liability for injurious consequences arising out of acts not prohibited by international law) and concludes its features as the following. It is out of acts done by the subjects of international law that international liability arises; the liability puts more emphasis on the existence of damage than on the existence of the acts resulted in the damage; the subjective key element of the liability is non-fault; and the main way to bear liability is to compensate. Section Two is "Relation between Liability for International Damage and Traditional State Liability ". Between them, there are some distinct differences, but at the same time, close links as well, that is, liability for international damage is the supplement and further development to traditional state liability. And then comes Chapter Two" Nature and Legal Basis of Liability for International Damage". In the respect of nature, it is pointed that liability for international damage is not the one for legal acts, and acts not prohibited by international law does not equal dangerous acts. In the respect of legal basis, viewpoints based on danger liability, non-fault liability, result liability or strict liability showed some characteristics of liability for international damage, but did not explain the legal basis clearly. In my opinion, its legal basis is also that the acts violate the international duty and that the acts violate the duty of the principle of "not abuse of right" and the principle of prevention. Chapter 3 is "State Liability for International Damage". Section One is "Applicable Scope and Forms of Liability for International Damage". At the present situation, liability for international damage is chiefly applied in civil nuclear activities, space flights, utilization of outer space, utilization of international rivers and common waters, ocean development and prevention of environment pollution, and etc. It is only stricted to the trans-boundary visible damage concerning utilization of natural environment. And there are three forms of liability. They are perfect liability, dual liability and entrepreneur compensate liability. Section Two is "Classification of State Actions and Conditions of effective compensation". The state is not only liable for damage made by state-controlled acts, but also by private legal rights. It is not easy for liability for international damage to be confirmed. There are three conditions to be met before effective compensation is acquired. One is that relation between cause and result must be proved. Next is to find out who did the harm, and last is to quantify the damage. Section Three is "Compensation Procedure". According to some concerned international treaties and conventions, subjects, compensation scope and procedures are discussed. In the end, Chapter Four is about act rules of liability for international damage and some practice of liability for international damage in China.