Research On The Distribution Of The Burden Of Proof By The Parties In Maritime Cargo Damage Claims

Based on the maritime adjudication white papers of various maritime courts,maritime commercial cases account for a relatively large proportion of all types of cases.Among them,disputes over claims for cargo damage in cargo transportation contracts by sea and sea areas are the main types of cases.In addition to the basic and statutory principle of the distribution of burden of proof,which is "who advocates,who produces evidence",the Maritime Law also contains provisions on the distribution of burden of proof.In the practice of maritime litigation,the judge will also request or allocate the burden of proof on the parties according to the facts that need to be ascertained during the trial of the case.In maritime cargo damage cases,the distance between the parties and the evidence is relatively large,and the preservation of case evidence is also very variable with the changes in maritime conditions.In maritime cargo damage claims,the claimant initiates litigation procedures and bears the burden of proof for satisfying the requirements and claims of the litigation.The defendant rebutted the factual claim,and the burden of proof was transferred to the defendant.The burden of proof will change between the plaintiff and the defendant as both parties put forward new claims and facts.Until one party has no new factual claims or cannot complete the proof,the court will make a judgment and the party with the burden of proof will lose the case.In some cases,when there are no legal provisions and the parties" claims are not clear,both parties present their own evidence.In order to arrive at the outcome of a case,the judge needs to decide which party should bear the burden of proof for the dispute that exists.In order to determine the outcome of the case,the focus of this article is on the premise of "who asserts,who provides evidence",what statutory burden of proof distribution exists in maritime cargo damage claims.When there are no legal provisions or conflicts in legal provisions,according to the actual situation of the case How to decide the distribution of burden of proof.These aspects mainly include situations involving the carrier"s obligations or claiming statutory exemption,damage caused by mixed causes,or involving multiple liability.Study how to allocate the burden of proof in these basic situations,or the impact of such allocation on the rights and obligations of both parties.This article first summarizes the concept of burden of proof and the content of the distribution theory."Whoever advocates and who provides evidence" is a basic rule.This rule first reflects the burden of proof that the claimant undertakes when the claimant initiates a cargo damage claim.In addition to procedurally meeting the requirements for filing a lawsuit,the claimant must also provide evidence to prove that cargo damage occurred during the carrier"s liability period.The focus of the subsequent research is on the transition of the burden of proof between the parties in different situations from the beginning to the end of the litigation.In a single circumstance,when the carrier’s related obligations are involved,the carrier shall bear the burden of proof of whether the legal obligation has been fulfilled,and the burden of proof of the causal relationship between the legal obligation and the damage to the cargo.When it comes to the application of the carrier"s exemption clause,different exemptions,such as fire exemption,nautical negligence exemption,and the condition of the cargo itself,or the distribution of the burden of proof in case of damage to the carrier,are different.After studying the distribution of the burden of proof in the single case mentioned above,this article considers that cargo damage may not only be a cause,and studies the proof of cargo damage caused by mixed reasons.In addition to cargo damage caused by multiple reasons,there may also be multiple responsible parties for cargo damage.Then,we have studied how the defendant can distinguish cargo damage liability from other parties when cargo damage involves multiple persons.In the case of multimodal transport,the liability between the operator and the segment carrier needs to determine the cargo damage section,and then determine the responsible party.When the carrier is the charterer under the charter party and the claim for cargo damage involves the actual carrier and the carrier"s responsibilities,how to distinguish the distribution of burden of proof between the two responsibilities.