严格产品责任原则传统定义之内在瑕疵——以美国产品责任法为视角

The Defects of the Traditional Concept of Strict Liability——From the Perspective of Product Liability Law in America

传统的严格产品责任原则并未对产品缺陷的类型进行区分,而是一概地适用于产品责任纠纷领域,无论生产者有无过错或能否预见风险的发生,都会导致产品责任的承担,严格责任呈现绝对化的倾向。随着产品责任诉讼的发展以及开发风险抗辩的确立,生产者的严格责任在美国产品责任法中的适用范围渐趋缩小,由最初的产品责任领域的一概适用调整为仅仅在制造缺陷案件中发挥效用,而在设计缺陷和警示缺陷案件中,生产者承担过失责任。中国的产品责任法由于法律移植的偏差与滞后,并未适当地确定严格责任原则在产品责任法中的地位,亦未能妥善解决严格责任原则与开发风险抗辩的关系。

The traditional principle of strict liability did not focus on the tripartition defects in modern product liability litigation.The strict standard would be applied to almost all the cases regardless of the type of defects.With the development of product liability litigation as well as the establishment of the development risk defense,the application of strict liability is being limited to manufacturing defects.Producer＇s liability standard for design defects and warning defects go back to negligence.For the reason of incomplete legal transplantation,the status of strict liability standard is inappropriate in Product Liability Law of China.The relationship between the principle of strict liability and the defense of development risk was not be dealt with well either.