Study On The Application Of The Rule Of Predictability Of Damages For Breach Of Contract

The rule of foreseeability originated in France in the 16 th century and is a common rule between civil law and Anglo American law systems.It aims to limit the scope of compensation for breach of contract losses and enable the defaulting party to obtain relief from unforeseeable losses.In 1999,China first introduced the concept of "foreseeability rule" in the field of contract law,and it remained in use until the implementation of Article584 of the Civil Code on January 1,2021.Although China has introduced the concept of "foreseeable rules",its judicial application has a large discretion,and relevant application rules need to be clarified,including the types of foreseeable losses,the criteria for determining foreseeable losses,and the limitations on the application of foreseeable rules.it is necessary to conduct in-depth exploration on this,reach a consensus on the elements of foresight,and form a unified judgment approach in judicial practice,in order to reduce the occurrence of differences in judgment in similar cases.The main body of this article is divided into four parts.The first part summarizes the theoretical basis of the rule of predictability from the perspectives of liability for breach of contract,compensation for losses,and predictability rules.It is believed that liability for breach of contract is set up to constrain the behavior of contract parties,promote the stability and orderly progress of economic activities,and compensate for losses in the form of money to compensate the complying party for the losses suffered as a result.The rule of predictability is a reasonable limitation on the scope of compensation for losses,To prevent unlimited amplification of trading risks and encourage market participants to participate in trading activities.The second part analyzes the current situation of the application of the predictability rule,and believes that the difficulty in determining the scope of application of the rule,inadequate consideration of value factors,and unclear exclusion basis are the three main problems in the application of the predictability rule for contract breach losses in China.The main causes of the problems are confusion of compensation interests,uncertainty of available interests,inaccurate grasp of foresight elements,and uncertainty of market risks.The third part discusses the establishment of criteria for determining the rule of predictability,and believes that it should be clarified from four criteria: subject,time,object,and degree.An analysis was conducted on the standards adopted for the subject,time,object,and degree of foresight.It was believed that the foresight subject should be the defaulting party,and the foresight time point should be at the time of contract signing.The foresight object includes both actual losses and available benefits.However,when considering available benefits and some special losses,it is necessary to combine the specific circumstances of the case and comprehensively consider the parties’ profession,market Whether the complying party has fulfilled the obligation to inform and other factors,it is necessary to foresee the type of loss when determining the foreseen content,and there is no need to foresee the specific amount.The fourth part discusses the identification and suggestions for the exclusion of the rule of foreseeability,and believes that it is necessary to clarify the specific basis for the exclusion,such as clear circumstances,the degree of fault of the defaulting party,contract effectiveness,and value judgment.It is also necessary to standardize the identification procedure for the exclusion of foreseeability,and to provide some suggestions for improving the application of the rule of foreseeability in compensation for breach of contract damages.In the final analysis,we should fully utilize the basic principles of contract law to guide and balance the interests of all parties.By flexibly applying the basic principles of contract law,we can compensate for the ambiguity of foreseeable rules,the legal loopholes of generality,and the uncertainty brought about by the rapidly changing market environment.