The Influence Of Fault On Determination Of The Scope Of Damages In Tort Law

As a traditional element in the system of tort law,fault has a significant impact on tort liability.The division between the establishment of tort liability and the scope of liability has become the basic system framework of tort law.However,scrupulously abiding by the principle of the dichotomy of tort liability does not affect the influence of fault on the scope of liability.Although fault is an important element in the establishment stage of liability,due to its particularity,when determining the scope of liability,the scope of compensation must be differentiated according to the degree of fault.Its legitimacy is reflected in both the normative level and the judicial level: in the normative level,fault affects the scope of liability mainly based on compensation,which is supported by the principle of liability,the basis of liability,the effect of liability and other aspects,and has significant institutional value;At the trial level,through comparative law and analysis of numerous judgments in China,it can be concluded that the court actually refers to the degree of fault more or less when determining the scope of compensation for each subject.At the same time,in the complicated legal practice,how the fault margin can play the role of limiting the scope of compensation needs the corresponding theoretical basis to prove.Guided by this,this paper demonstrates the legitimacy of fault affecting the scope of compensation from both the normative and practical aspects.Due to the complexity of theory and practice,the application of the scope of compensation affected by fault is also different.In the individual infringement,due to the difference in the purpose and nature of tort liability,fault has exerted a differentiated influence.First,the compensatory liability,which aims to fill in the damage,determines the category and overall scope of the damage compensation in general by filling in the objective nature and purpose of the damage,while the space affected by the fault is mainly to limit the excessive scope of compensation and reduce the liability of the perpetrator.Second,in the punitive responsibility with the purpose of punishment and prevention,in order to achieve the purpose of punishing the perpetrators,the punishment intensity is mainly quantified by the degree of fault.Even in the same type of tort liability,the influence of fault on the scope of liability will also vary in amount due to different imputation principles,different parties,different damages,etc.These lead to complex situations in referee practice,which need to be typed.Different from individual infringement,in complex multi person infringement cases,the determination of the scope of liability of multiple subjects should rely on fault thinking to build a compensation scope system.First,in terms of the external liability forms of each responsible person,fault can enhance the explanatory power of selecting multiple liability forms such as joint and several liability,share based liability and mixed liability,and help to determine the external proportion of liability;Second,on the internal responsibility sharing of each responsible person,fault is the main basis for determining the scope of compensation,and the difference of fault degree of each responsible person is directly reflected in the difference of compensation amount.In addition,for the subsequent exercise of the right of recourse,fault also has the effect of eliminating the right of recourse or affecting the order of recourse.It must be emphasized that the scope of liability is not defined by the fault itself,and the fault must cooperate with the causal force to identify the scope of compensation.First,the other party is often taken as a reference factor when fault and causal force are identified respectively.Second,when determining the scope of liability,we can often get similar conclusions by considering the degree of fault or the size of the causal force.In special cases,the primary and secondary relationship between fault and causal force should be clarified according to the principle of liability fixation of the case and the type of infringement,so as to reasonably define the scope of compensation.In summary,this paper mainly proves the rationality of the influence of fault on the scope of liability for tort damages,discusses the different paths of such influence by classification,demonstrates the synergy of fault and causal force when affecting the scope of liability,and puts forward my own views and suggestions on the application of law.