The Empirical Research On Compensation For Damages Due To Culpa In Contrahendo

The liability for culpa in contrahendo is an independent system in China's civil law system.On the basis of the principle of good faith,the liability for culpa in contrahendo refers to the liability for compensation for damages by one party for breach of the contractual obligations during the conclusion of the contract,which results in the loss of the reliance interest of the other party.China's liability for culpa in contrahendo exists in the "Contract Law of the People's Republic of China"(hereinafter referred to as the "Contract Law"),which mainly stipulates several circumstances in which culpa in contrahendo should be held accountable.As for the consequences of culpa in contrahendo,the Contract Law only stipulates that "the liability for the loss shall be borne",but there are no clear rules on the applicable field,scope and amount calculation method of compensation for damages.Although there have been many discussions on this in the theoretical circle,it has not systematically and thoroughly elaborated on this,nor has it formed a general theory that can be universally applied.As a result,in judicial practice,different courts hold different opinions on the judgment of compensation for damages due to culpa in contrahendo.A large number of "same case but different judgment" not only reflects the lack of understanding of the legal basis and value meaning of the reliance interest in judicial practice,but also reflects the lack of detailed research on the legal technology of the reliance interest discretion.Today in our country the dispute of judicial case referee view of controversy about the liability for culpa in contrahendo focus on the applicable field,the scope of application and quantitative methods of liability for damages.Judicial practice has not yet attempted to classify,subdivide,and clarify damages due to culpa in contrahendo in different types of contracts.The referee of liability for damages mostly relies on the discretion of judges and has no operational dispute resolution path.The empirical research shows that judicial cases often believe that the applicable field of liability for compensation must be the contract which is not established or has an invalidity.However,the determination of liability for damages caused by culpa in contrahendo is not necessarily related to the form of contract.In principle,the protection of the reliance interest should not be blocked by the form of the contract.The contracting parties' claims for compensation for damages should not be rejected simply because the contract is valid.China's "Contract Law" still leaves room for interpretation on the compensation for the reliance interest damages in case of valid contract.The invalidity of the contract is not the establishment requirement of the liability for culpa in contrahendo itself,and the validity of the contract cannot constitute the substantive exemption of the liability for compensation for damages borne by culpa in contrahendo.The scope of compensation for the reliance interest is the focus of disputes of liability for culpa in contrahendo.The indirect loss is one of the inherent connotations of reliance interest,and the compensation scope of the reliance interest should include the indirect loss in principle.Although the Supreme People's Court has affirmed the view that the indirect loss should be included in the scope of compensation for the reliance interest in the form of a bulletin case,no further stipulations on the method of quantification of the indirect loss are made.When calculating the amount of compensation for the reliance interest,especially the amount of the indirect loss,different types of named contracts should adopt different reference basis according to their own characteristics.The indirect loss of the victims of culpa in contrahendo in insurance contracts can be calculated with reference to the insurance amount originally agreed,the damages of the reliance interest in housing sales contracts can be determined by the housing value-added income as a reference,and the loss of the laborer in labor contracts should be measured according to the wage level abandoned by the laborer.Whether from the perspective of fairness,efficiency or reliance protection,it is reasonable to allow the victims of culpa in contrahendo to calculate their indirect losses with reference to the performance interest.The performance interest is the mirror image of the indirect loss under the condition of the market economy.The theory of civil law and judicial practice should not reject the operable scheme on the grounds of the equivalence of amount.The court should consider clarifying this method of calculation in the form of a judicial interpretation or a typical case.On the relationship between causality and compensation for reliance interest,the direct loss and the indirect loss should be distinguished and evaluated because of their different natures.On the one hand,because the direct loss is the direct damage of the victim's property and is the direct consequence of culpa in contrahendo,the causality should act on the discretionary process of the direct loss in the form of “all or nothing”;on the other hand,the causality between culpa in contrahendo and the indirect loss is not as obvious and close to the direct loss.The magnitude of causality is positively correlated with the amount of compensation for the indirect loss.The greater the causality,the greater the compensation for opportunity loss.And the magnitude of causality can be abstractly summarized by the degree of opportunity loss of the victims of culpa in contrahendo.In terms of the relationship between negligence and compensation for damages for the reliance interest,not only the doer's negligence will directly affect compensation for damages for the reliance interest,but also the victim's degree of negligence has a significant impact on the amount of compensation for the reliance interest.If the court finds that the victim also bears subjective negligence for the occurrence or expansion of the damage,the court should follow the principle of negligence offset and judge that both parties shall jointly bear the compensation for the reliance interest according to the proportion of the negligence of the contracting parties.