Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China (2d official discussion draft December 21, 2008)

Abstract

Discussion of the need to revise the basic Civil Code of China began in 1997. Like the American Restatement process it is a brick by brick effort which does not proceed with the urgency of specific operational laws.

In December 2002 a working draft, prepared by the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National Peoples Congress, was distributed for public discussion. Our attention went to the chapter stating the basic parameters of tort liability. This was translated with commentary and appeared in the Beijing Journal Private Law (Si Fa) in 2005, and, with commentary, in the Fordham International Law Journal in 2007. [Conk, George W., A New Tort Code Emerges in China: An Introduction to the Discussion and a Translation of Chapter 8 - Tort Law of the Official Discussion Draft of the Proposed Revised Civil Code. Fordham International Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 935-999, 2007; Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1015041. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1015041]

The road to discussion on the floor of the National Peoples Congress has been longer than expected. It was delayed, inter alia, by the protracted discussions regarding the proposed changes in the law of property. This has given time for scholars and others to engage in discussions of the shape of the revisions.

On December 21, 2008 the Legislative Affairs Commission released a second draft. That was the subject of discussion at a July 2009 Sino- U.S. symposium. The event was sponsored by the American Law Institute and the host People's University of China (Renmin University) Law School's Center for Scientific Research on Civil and Commercial Law, in collaboration with the official China Law Society's Civil Law Research Commission.

This translation of the second draft was prepared for the benefit of the discussants at the Renmin University symposium.