A Common Law-like Civil Law and a Public Face for Private Law

Abstract

The Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted in late 2009 and effective in mid-2010, fills in one of the major previously missing pieces in China's civil law and adds a key component of China's future Civil Code. Despite its clear and consciously civil law character, China’s Tort Liability Law in some significant respects is at least as much common law like as it is civilian. Despite its private law nature, Chinese tort law has major notably 'public law' characteristics. Legal texts, official explanations and commentary by scholars involved in drafting China's tort laws reveal aims and perspectives similar to those in U.S. tort law discourse. This might, or might not, imply convergence. The differences between Chinese tort law and American common law tort law remain substantial and appear rooted partly-although far from completely-in China's and the U.S.’s relatively more and less ‘public' conceptions of tort law. Keywords:China's Tort Liability Law; China’s Public Private Law; Civil Law; common law; U.S. tort law