Murder and robbery by vehicular impact: true vehicular homicide

True vehicular homicides are defined as those occurrences in which a motor vehicle is intentionally used as a weapon in taking of a life. A case is presented in which the deceased was traveling in the front passenger seat of a motor car that was deliberately rammed by a heavy jeep that came in the opposite direction, resulting in a serious frontal collision. Immediately after the impact, while the occupants of the car were lying in a dazed condition, the two persons riding in the jeep escaped with a bag containing money that was in the car, leaving the jeep behind. The impact mainly involved the driver's sides of both vehicles. The driver of the car sustained serious injuries but was found to be alive, whereas the front-seat passenger, who did not show any serious external injuries, was found to be in a collapsed state and was pronounced dead on admission to the hospital within 30 minutes of the accident. The autopsy revealed that death was caused by closed hemopericardium from a ruptured right atrium. The evaluation of the external and internal injuries confirmed that the fatal injury and a few serious internal injuries were caused by the seat belt (tertiary-impact injuries). The ruptured right atrium was attributed to blunt abdominal trauma by impacting against the lap belt. The case was a true vehicular homicide in which a motor vehicle had been used as a weapon to kill a person. Various aspects pertaining to road accidents, the safety of the occupants, and the advantage and disadvantage of the safety devices are discussed.     

食品安全责任保险二元结构论

关于食品安全责任保险,应当结合食品科学的研究以及食品安全事故发生的概率、危险程度等因素,将转基因食品、儿童食品等纳入强制责任保险,不能笼统地将所有食品安全责任纳入强制责任保险。对食品安全责任保险实行强制保险和自愿保险二元结构。就食品安全责任强制保险而言,强制投保的对象应仅限于生产者,在认定保险人的除外责任时,应正确认定被保险人的“故意”。在食品安全责任自愿保险领域,针对投保率低的现状,应当在税收、食品营销等方面采取相应措施,来推动食品安全责任保险的发展。保险人的保险金给付义务仅限于损害补偿部分,惩罚性赔偿金的目的在于惩罚生产者、销售者,因此不能通过责任保险来分散风险。     

侵权补充责任之理性审思与解释适用

《侵权责任法》仅列举了侵权补充责任的数类适用情形,缺乏统一的客观适用标准,亦未明确具体的适用规则.责任分担是责任成立的后续命题,不应再以责任构成原理为立论基点,而应以外部被侵权人受偿及内部各侵权人终局责任分担为考量因素.按份、连带责任的终局责任分担困境及不真正连带责任全额赔偿的僵化,使得补充责任不可或缺.由该正当性可推知,侵权补充责任应适用于“具有全部原因力的直接作为侵权＋过失不作为侵权”之一般情形.补充责任人应承担与过错、原因力相当的补充责任,并可向直接责任人全额追偿.     

法律责任外延探析

我国法理学界对法律责任的外延问题研究较为薄弱,鉴于此,本文便以法律责任的外延为切入点,着重分析了法律责任的三种划分方法,它们的标准分别是,规范法律责任的不同法律部门、特定法律事实对合法权益造成的损害,法律责任的不同承担主体。其中,以“法律部门的不同”为标准对法律责任所作的划分为最重要。就这一划分,作者指出了传统法律责任划分理论在逻辑上的缺陷和价值取向上的偏离,给予了“程序法责任”应有的位置,使程序法责任和实体法责任共同组成法律责任的有机整体。     

Liability and food safety provision: Empirical evidence from the US

Recent environmental and food safety incidents are bringing attention to regulatory regimes and their effects on care provision. This article investigates the effects of the application of liability regimes with punitive damages in the reduction of food contamination episodes in the United States from 1990 to 2000. The main result is that the application of strict liability laws allowing claims of punitive damages decreases in a statistically significant way the number of food safety incidents. Statistical results show that states allowing claims of punitive damages are between 15% and 30% less likely to suffer food safety incidents.     

论乘客交通事故伤亡损害赔偿之诉的法律适用

司法实践中,客运途中因交通事故导致乘客伤亡,当事人以违约责任为诉由还是以侵权责任为诉由因适用标准不同导致赔偿数额相差悬殊常成为争议的焦点。乘客伤亡之损害赔偿责任原则上应按照《道路交通安全法》及《民法通则》等有关规定,由导致损害事由发生的责任者承担,在加害人不明的情况下由承运人先行承担补充赔偿责任。一方面,因为对绝对权的保护原则上系基于法律的规定而非当事人的选定或约定,责任竞合也不能在普通规范与特别规范之间产生;另一方面,《合同法》第113条第2款明确规定"经营者对消费者提供商品或者服务有欺诈行为的,依照《中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法》的规定承担损害赔偿责任。"因为,消费者要求适用《中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法》给予惩罚性赔偿的前提是经营者提供商品或者服务有欺诈之故意,显然,乘客交通事故伤亡损害事件中不存在这种欺诈的故意罪。     

Identification of the driver in an automobile collision

We report on a three-occupant automobile collision in which one of the two survivors claimed that the deceased had operated the vehicle. We attempted to identify the driver. The left face and neck of the deceased appeared to have struck the vehicle's interior. The survivors were slightly injured on the right side of their faces. In Japan, the passenger side is on the left, and in this case, the right side of the vehicle had been damaged. By comparing the injuries of the deceased and the survivors in relation to the vehicle damages, we concluded that the deceased occupant had probably been a passenger, not the driver.     

医疗物品致人损害责任的举证制度研究

医疗物品致人损害责任是医疗损害责任的一种特殊形式，同时又具有产品责任的某些特点。对外．药品、消毒药剂和医疗器械致损的归责原则是无过错原则；而血液致损的归责原则是过错原则。对内。医疗机构承担的是无过错责任．因此在无过错时有权向最终的责任主体追偿。医疗物品责任实行的是“谁主张。谁举证”的归责原则，因此受损害方承担了证明医疗损害责任三个构成要件的证明责任；而医疗产品生产商和医疗机构都可以通过举证《产品质量法》规定的法定情况的存在而免责，但医疗机构不得对“未投入流通”这一情况而免责．血液提供机构承担了证明自己不存在过错的举证责任。为了更好的平衡举证责任和举证能力．我国应该对与证据价值密切相关的两个制度证据保全和医疗鉴定予以完善。     

CISG违约附加费用赔偿实证研究

违约附加费用是受损害方因对方违约而遭受的价值损失之外的损失,在实践中的表现形式是多样的。在合理和必要的前提下,作为受损害方的实际损失,违约附加费用是可以得到赔偿的。受损害方因对方违约而向第三方和有权机关承担的责任也可以作为附加费用求偿,但在合理和必要的标准外,还要特别强调其可预见性。受损害方在程序外的法律费用和雇佣收债公司的费用虽然原则上可以作为附加费用求偿,但不同裁判庭在认定标准上存在较大差异。     

过失相抵与无过错责任简

过失相抵是损害赔偿法中的一项基本规则,适用于所有的损害赔偿之债。在适用无过错责任的侵权行为中,除非法律另有规定,可以适用过失相抵,这是法律之公平精神与自己责任原则的要求。在可以适用过失相抵规则的无过错责任中,对该规则的适用也应有一定的限制。首先,只有当受害人对损害的发生或扩大有重大过失时,才能适用过失相抵,减轻侵权人的赔偿责任。其次,如果受害人是不完全民事行为能力人,无论是受害人本人还是其监护人对于损害的发生或扩大有过错,对侵权人赔偿责任的减轻都不得低于全部损失的一定比例。     

Intentional torts claims in medical cases

Civil liability legislation enacted in each Australian jurisdiction following the Ipp Report recommendations created a clear divide between "negligence" and "intentional" torts. The common law action for trespass to the person is to varying extents maintained in the approaches taken by the State and Territory legislatures. This article explores the potential application of intentional torts claims in a medical context in light of recent case law. It identifies advantages for plaintiffs who plead intentional tort claims, including onus of proof, causation, remoteness, the quantum of compensatory damages and the availability of aggravated and exemplary damages.     

Sleeping accidents in the elderly

Two cases of dangerous sleeping environments in the elderly are reported to demonstrate similarities and differences of these "sleeping accidents" to similar episodes that occur in infants and children. CASE REPORTS: An 87-year-old wheelchair-bound man with a history of dementia was found in his nursing home room hanging off the side of the bed from a vertical metal bar, and an 87-year-old woman with epilepsy, ischemic heart disease, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was found in hospital wedged between an inflatable mattress and the bars of her bed. These cases demonstrate that, as in the very young, relatively poor coordination and strength in the elderly often with limited comprehension and ability to deal with dangerous environments may predispose to sleeping accidents. Significant underlying organic disease may, however, make determination of the precise lethal mechanisms difficult. Modification of beds should only be undertaken when safety issues have been carefully evaluated.     

外国法查明中的专家侵权责任研究

外国法专家因过错出具错误外国法意见并造成当事人损害的，应依照过错责任原则承担侵权责任。外国法查明错误造成的损害，既可以是财产性损害，也可能是非财产性损害如精神损害。只有当外国法专家对损失的发生有过错时才承担责任。专家应当赔偿的损害包括财产损害和非财产损害。出具外国法意见的专家，不得通过约定预先排除其过错责任。     

Taxi passenger accidentally stuck by syringe awarded $15,000

In January 2003, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge awarded $15,000 for mental anguish to a woman who was stuck by a syringe found in the back of a taxicab. In assessing the damages, the Court took into account the woman's possible exposure to HIV and the reasonableness of her belief that she was at risk of seroconverting.     

我国产品责任制度:守成与创新

相对于《产品质量法》有关产品责任的规定,《侵权责任法》第五章既有守成的一面也有诸多创新规定,在解释上不可完全适用特别法优先的原则或新法优先的原则,而是要将两个法律的相关规定有机结合起来进行系统的解释,方能正确适用。《侵权责任法》没有对产品责任中的"损害"进行重新界定,产品自身的财产损失不属于产品责任的"损害";精神损害赔偿适用于产品责任案件,惩罚性赔偿规定的适用有待最高人民法院作出更具有可操作性的司法解释。     

The rights of rape victims are enhanced: Using the law of premise liability for compensation

The field of victimology has been inundated with empirical evidence which demonstrates victims of crime have very few rights. Yet a new field of civil liability has been growing in the last few years which gives rape and assault victims a new avenue to be compensated for their injuries. This paper will demonstrate how the victims’ target is not the criminal justice system (through compensation from restitution or victim’s compensation statures). Nor is it the defendant (who usually makes no money). Rather, the target is the rich apartment complex owners and other owners of commercial premises who have failed to maintain their premises safely. As a result of their negligence, the victims fail to be afforded the right to visit or habitat or to sleep without fear and are ultimately raped. Jury verdicts in these premises liability cases have reached more than nine million dollars. This paper will analyze the legal process whereby one particular rape victim actualized her rights and gained significant monetary damages under this evolving law of premise liability. Finally, it proposes the creation of a new institutionalized program that promotes the rape victim’s rights to adequate compensation for her injury-the Rape Victims’ Rights and Opportunities Program.     

智能汽车致损的法律责任研究

智能汽车的核心特质是技术自主性,其飞速发展和快速应用给现有法律责任体系带来了严峻的挑战。智能汽车作为初级的弱人工智能产物,不宜赋予其法律人格,类比特殊侵权亦不足取。应迈向保有人责任即产品责任的二元责任体系:将机动车一方解释为“保有”人,构建智能汽车保有人责任体系。同时对产品责任进行相应的调整,由制造商和设计者共同担责,确立“熟练驾驶人”标准,适用因果关系推定,限缩发展风险抗辩的适用。     

《民法典》环境侵权惩罚性赔偿制度之功能剖辨

《民法典》侵权责任编第1232条规定的环境侵权惩罚性赔偿制度,是一项新增制度.从内在机理审视,惩罚主义理论或功利主义理论均难以为环境侵权惩罚性赔偿制度的"惩罚"功能提供理论支撑.从规则体系审视,若赋予该制度"惩罚"功能,则错置了侵权责任的保护客体,混同了生态环境保护中私法机制与公法机制,忽视了"环境损害"救济法律机制体...     

跨界海洋环境损害的国家责任问题探讨

国家责任的承担似乎是跨界海洋环境损害责任追究的必然结果,但缘于就此领域国家责任承担的法理论与法实践的困扰和障碍,使得跨界海洋环境损害责任私法化趋势明显,而且以广泛国际合作为基础的针对跨界海洋环境损害风险预防机制的强化将弱化责任追究本身的重要性。     

论食品安全事故中的赔偿责任人

发生食品安全事故,往往会涉及多个责任人,其责任是不同的。食品生产者承担严格责任并不意味着其他连带责任者也一样承担严格责任。销售者、广告者承担的是过错责任。《食品安全法》关于销售者的责任规定,有宽纵之嫌;而广告者的责任似乎又过于严厉。为求平衡,销售者、广告者的责任均以过错推定责任为宜。消费者向原材料提供者的索赔,也面临法律障碍。《食品安全法》关于销售者十倍赔偿的责任规定,是“纸老虎”,消费者要胜诉十分困难。农民个人作为农产品生产者,其责任监管十分欠缺,是急需研究和完善的一个领域。