Research On Distribution Of Burden Of Proof In Environmental Civil Public Interest Litigation In China

Environmental public welfare system plays an important role in protecting the ecological balance and preventing potential environmental threats.It makes up for the shortcoming of the original lawsuit that it is unable to deal with large-scale pollution problems.The distribution of burden of proof mainly solves the problem of how to judge when the authenticity of the relevant cases is unknown.At present,there are many opinions on the distribution rules of burden of proof,but there is no final conclusion.The reasonable distribution of burden of proof is related to the normal operation of environmental public interest litigation,and will affect the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of both parties’ litigation participants.Therefore,scientific distribution of burden of proof is conducive to the development of environmental public interest litigation.Environmental civil public interest litigation is a new type of litigation that requires specific plaintiffs to bring a lawsuit to the court in the face of actual harm or potential risks to unspecified public caused by environmental pollution or ecological damage.Environmental civil public interest litigation and environmental private interest litigation can be distinguished in many places,such as the plaintiff’s legal status,strength improvement and essential facts.In the absence of a basis for this lawsuit,the direct extension of the "inversion" rule is inappropriate.Moreover,the direct application of the "inversion" rule in judicial practice leads to many problems in the application process.This article attempts to analyze the unique aspects of environmental public interest litigation by starting with the basic theoretical research on proof distribution.Then straighten out the existing legal provisions on the distribution of burden of proof,and sum up the potential problems combined with the judicial phenomena.Secondly,on the basis of the useful rules practiced in other countries,the author tries to take different types of plaintiffs as the starting point,and both parties have their own scope of application of the burden of proof and the rules of burden of proof distribution stipulated by the causal relationship for the protection of the weak,in order to improve the burden of proof distribution system,hoping to realize the protection of the litigation rights of the litigants of both parties in environmental litigation and further promote the environment.