Study On The Application To Joint And Several Liability For Tort

As one of the tort compensation liabilities in the field of tort law, joint andseveral liability for tort embodies how tort liability is allotted among differenttortfeasors on the occasion of several people committing tort. The collateral valuespecific to joint and several liability for tort makes sure that the victim in a weakposition could gain his/her right to be compensated. From the perspective ofprotecting victims, the range of the application to joint and several liability for tort isconstantly expanded.The specific application of a system should base on its own legitimacy and logic,that is to say, the application should base on the thorough understanding of itsfundamental theories rather than overemphasis on its policy effect that it couldachieve. The earliest provision of application to joint and several liability for tort in alegislative way in our country traces back to Article130in the General Principles ofthe Civil Law, and there are provisions of application to joint and several liability fortort in some laws promulgated after it. The Tort Law promulgated on Jul.1st,2010made a full provision on the application to joint and several liability for tort based onthe current judicial interpretation. Due to the disagreements in the joint and severalliability for tort between the law and the provisions in the interpretation of theSupreme People’s Court of Some Issues concerning the Application of Law for theTrial of Cases on Compensation for Personal Injury and the lack of theoretical studyon joint and several liability for tort and its system, joint and several liability for tortoften is confused with tort compensation liability in its application, such as unrealjoint liability, supplementary liability and vicarious liability. On the other hand, thereare many problems on the application of joint and several liability for tort in thelitigation procedures because of the disagreement of the transition of substantive lawand procedure law.In order to effectively regulate the application to joint and several liability fortort, it is necessary to handle it on the level of cognition and judicial practice. On thelevel of cognition, it is necessary to make a comparative analysis of other relevant liabilities based on clarifying the basis of its legitimacy of the application to joint andseveral liability for tort. There is lack of effective understanding in the functions of avariety of liabilities contained in the tort liability in the judicial interpretation in thepast, and it is blindly believed that joint and several liability for tort could protect thevictims’ legitimate rights and interests in the most effective way. On the level ofjudicial practice, the regulation should focus on the establishment of the subject oflitigation against joint and several liability for tort and the implementation of the rightof recourse against joint and several tortfeasors. As for the legislation tendency of TheTort Law in our country and the common practice all over the world for the timebeing, it is clear that the focus should be on the tendency of restraining its applicationrange, strictly preventing it from applying to actors of no-fault or low degree of fault,and protecting it from applying extensively and blindly.