The imputation of liability for damages caused by kept animals found in China’s Tort Law is a unique, synthetic, and multidimensional dual system. On the one hand, hazard-based liability is the dominant factor, and on the other is fault-based liability the auxiliary factor. The Tort Law on kept animals is oriented towards the types of liability for damages caused by kept animals, rather than towards categories of animal types, and it categorizes liability degrees under both normal and special circumstances. While underlining the merits achieved by this liability imputation system in terms of its structure (on the macro-level), this Article also probes into the problems and difficulties arising out of some key junctures (on the micro-level), especially as the system is put into practice and its operational complexity is revealed. Because of the strong affinity of the Chinese civil law, and especially tort law, with its German counterpart, this Article references the German tort law on animal keeper’s liability for an historical and comparative legal analysis, bringing more light to the Chinese system of liability. The imputation of liability for damages caused by kept animals found in China’s Tort Law is a unique, synthetic, and multidimensional dual system. On the one hand, hazard-based liability is the dominant factor, and on the other is fault-based liability the auxiliary factor. The Tort Law on kept animals is oriented towards the types of liability for damages caused by kept animals, rather than towards categories of animal types, and it categorizes liability degrees under both normal and special circumstances. While underlining the merits achieved by this liability imputation system in terms of its structure (on the macro-level), this Article also probes into the problems and difficulties arising out of some key junctures (on the micro-level), especially as the system is put into practice and its operational complexity is revealed. Because of the strong affinity of the Chinese civil law, and especially tort law, with its German counterpart, this Article references the German tort law on animal keeper’s liability for an historical and comparative legal analysis, bringing more light to the Chinese system of liability.
European Review of Private Law