论《合同法》中的违约责任制度

违约责任是当事人不履行或不适当履行合同所产生的法律责任 ,具有相对性、约定性 ,是一种财产责任。违约行为的形态 ,从合同履行情况的角度分类 ,可分为不履行合同义务和不完全履行合同义务 ;从违约行为发生的时间上分类 ,可分为届期违约和预期违约。我国《合同法》对违约责任的归责原则采取无过错责任原则为主 ,过错责任原则和过错推定责任原则为辅的原则。     

保证方式、保证期间、诉讼时效与保证责任——对担保法施行前所发生保证行为的法律分析

保证责任与保证方式、保证期间和诉讼时效直接相关。保证方式不同,保证人承担保证责任的顺序和强度不同。保证期间届满,保证责任免除,保证债务诉讼时效问题也就不存在;保证期间终结,保证债务生效从而不再受保证期间约束,而受保证债务诉讼时效约束。主债务诉讼时效与保证债务诉讼时效之间的关系应当是:前者届满,后者也届满;前者中断,后者未必中断;后者中断,前者必定中断。保证债务诉讼时效届满,保证债务沦为自然之债,债权人丧失请求人民法院强制保证人承担保证责任的胜诉权。对担保法施行前所发生保证行为的保证责任认定,应当遵循上述法理、适用相关法律和司法解释之规定,而不能以有关通知为依据。     

司法鉴定人错误鉴定的民事责任及其豁免

鉴定人因出具错误鉴定结论导致诉讼当事人的损害应当承担专家民事责任。这不仅是出于鉴定人的特殊诉讼地位,同样也由他的专家属性所决定。其承担的的是一种特殊的侵权责任,且该赔偿责任的主体为鉴定机构更为妥当。在法律责任豁免上,由于鉴定人与普通证人性质迥异,不宜赋予其普通证人才享有的广泛豁免权,但是依然可以在一定条件和范围内免责。     

Remedies for Breach of Trust

The decision of the Supreme Court in AIB Group (UK) Plc v Mark Redler & Co confirms the approach taken by Lord Browne‐Wilkinson in Target Holdings Ltd v Redferns: where a trustee misapplies trust assets, a beneficiary is limited to a claim for equitable compensation for losses caused by the trustee's breach of duty. This seems to be a departure from traditional equitable doctrine, which held that the beneficiary could falsify the trustee's unauthorised disbursement and bring a claim for an ‘equitable debt’. This note considers the impact of the decision of the Supreme Court, and how the law regarding ‘equitable compensation’ might continue to develop.     

Revisiting country of origin principle: Challenges related to regulating e-commerce in the European Union

The article analyses the country of origin principle of information society services in the light of harmonisation and unification efforts undertaken by the European lawgiver. Although the country of origin principle remains the key element of the construction of freedom to provide information society services, the principle itself suffers a number of both explicit and implicit restrictions which render its practical application a serious challenge. The difficulty is posed by the fact that the Electronic Commerce Directive fails to expressly specify both the scope of harmonisation as regards the principle, and the level of harmonisation of the directive itself. Furthermore, it is understood differently by private international lawyers. In the eDate Advertising case the ECJ ruled that the principle is not a conflict-of-laws rule, neither does it require implementation to the national legal systems in this shape. This is not to mean, however, that the debate over the function of the country of origin principle in private international law is over. Last but not least, there are many different types of country of origin principles applicable to various types of services provided via the Internet. This multitude of country of origin principles is perhaps the greatest weakness the regulatory approach adopted by the European lawmaker.     

Rethinking the notion of hosting in the aftermath of Delfi: Shifting from liability to responsibility?

Liability of Internet intermediaries for a third-party content is a complex topic, especially with regards to the storage of illegal or harmful postings offered by portals. The E-Commerce Directive offered a liberal framework for handling such cases, provided that a hosting service provider has not played an active role in content management. Being passive turned out to be the key precondition for immunity under safe harbour provisions. Yet, after the Delfi ruling the legal landscape has changed radically. Although the judgment of the Strasbourg tribunal has been dismissed in some jurisdictions as an error or one-off case, the truth is that it took into account acquis communautaire and imposed liability on the news portal, which followed the guidelines of Google France and eBay rulings. Given the lack of predictability of the current legal framework, the aim of this contribution is to offer a deep-dive into the notion of hosting from a technical perspective in order to better understand why Articles 14–15 of the E-Commerce Directive may require a re-examination. It is also submitted that portals and other online service providers relying on a broad construction of safe harbours should be entitled to Good Samaritan protection akin to section 230 of the American Communications Decency Act in order not to hold them liable for being active in fighting hate speech and other forms of illegal and harmful conduct.     

新就业形态劳动者权益保障问题研究——基于平台责任的理论思考

在平台经济蓬勃发展的背景下,区别于传统用工模式的新就业形态对劳动者权益保障提出挑战。国家相关部门近期发布多个文件,从劳动关系、劳动标准、社会保险等方面对新就业形态劳动者的权益保障提出要求,然而地方实践表明要将保障真正落到实处仍存在现实困境。其中,平台责任及其与劳动者关系问题是核心难点,基于风险完全转移和风险不完全转移进行平台责任的理论探讨,有助于建立兼具可行性及可操作性的制度落地计划。