民事诉讼证明标准的经济分析

Economic analysis on the standards of proof in civil procedure

国家作为理性人,在设置证明标准时,必然追求成本最小化。成本包括行政成本与错误成本。一般而言,证明标准越高,当事人的成本也就越高。错误成本与错误判决导致的权益损失大小直接相关,司法准确度不足的成本则与其领域涉及的权益相关。证明标准的提高并不必然带来司法准确度的提高。我国民事诉讼应当构建层次化的证明标准。该体系的设置必须综合考虑行政成本、错判成本、诉讼当事人的地位悬殊情况等因素,并结合法律的预防与激励功能。

It is rational for a nation to pursuit cost minimization in setting standards of proof. The cost consists of administration cost and mistake cost. Generally speaking, the higher the standard of proof is, the higher the cost of litigants is. Mistake cost is directly related with the loss of rights and interests caused by a wrongful judicial decision. The cost of inadequate judicial accuracy relates to the rights and interests in its specific field. Raising the standards of proof will not necessarily bring improvement in judicial accuracy. China should construct different levels of standard of proof. Administration cost, mistake cost, unequal status of litigants, together with the preventive and incentive functions of the laws, should be taken into account in constructing such system.