Research On Civil Liability Of The River Management Department For Riverway Drowning Events

The riverway has always been an important carrier of water ecological environment,not only bearing the flood discharge,farmland irrigation,passenger,freight and other basic functions,but also providing valuable water resources for the residents along the river.People living in rural areas have long been getting water from the nearest river for laundry,cooking,or playing in the river;in cities,with the pace of modernization,local governments'transformation on the riverbank lines,has vigorously improved and beautified the rivers,built many landscape areas with " clear water,green bank,flat shoal and beautiful scenery".These landscape areas have taken on new features such as leisure,entertainment and sightseeing tours.However,danger always hides in no matter the traditional river or the transformed landscape river.In recent years,riverway-related accidents such as falling into the water have been happening frequently,which have caused numerous disputes.Local courts have accepted many cases of personal injury compensation disputes arising from the occurrence of drowning events in the river.The families of the deceased always sue the river management department as the defendant to bear civil compensation liability of the drowning.Lacking of explicite legal grounds,local courts usually adjudicate river management departments to bear part of the liability,on the ground that the defendant did not fulfill the responsibility of managers,or failed to fulfill the warning obligation.But river management departments always hold strong objection,claiming that there is no explicite laws showing that they have legal responsibility for the protection of persons and property entering the scope of river management.Regarding the issue that whether the river management department should be responsible for personal injury liability in the drowning events,through the analysis of two cases,this paper intends to analyse the focus of the dispute and the relevant legal basis,and to propose legal considerations and corresponding recommendations on issues such as the entity responsibility of the river management,supervision of river laws enforcement,litigation regarding river drowning and so on.The main contents of this paper include:first,starting from the controversial focus of the two types of drowning events,it analyses that whether the natural river and the landscape river can be counted as public places;second,from the connotation of the safety protection obligations,it analyses that whether the river management department has the legal obligations of safety protection and the legal basis for the obligation;third,it analyses the applicable circumstances when the river management department should bear the civil liability for the drowning events;fourth,it elaborates the entity responsibilities of river managements,points out the legislative gaps,studies how the river department will strengthen administrative management and enforcement supervision,how to respond to drowning litigation and so on.The conclusion of this paper breaks people's traditional cognition,informs the legal responsibilities of the river department to the public,and clarifies the legal basis for the civil compensation cases of the river drowning,and provides certain references to the judgment of similar cases as well as the reformation of Water Administration Law Enforcement Teams.