论责任范围限定中的侵权过失与因果关系

On the Relationship between Negligence and Causation in Tort Law

侵权法因果关系区分了事实因果关系与法律因果关系,前者用于确定行为与损害间的事实联系;后者的功能则在于责任范围的限制,实非真正的因果关系问题。责任范围的确定,各国均强调损害发生须符合一般事件自然、正常的发展过程,并将责任限制于正常人可合理预见的风险范围。而过失的判断亦包含了对具体损害的合理预见要求,其与因果关系的合理预见并无本质差异,因此,可依行为对具体损害的过失判断确立责任并限制责任,这符合过失责任的要义,尽管残留了与因果限责同样的弹性模糊等问题。

There are two torts of causation in Tort Law. Factual causation is used to determine the factual connection between act and damage; legal causation which is actually not a real causation problem aims to limit actor＇s liability. To determine the scope of liability,Tort Laws in many countries require that damage should be the natural and normal development of injurious act,and limit the liability to the reasonably foreseeable range of risk. Likewise,the existence of negligence is based on the reasonable foresight of particular damage,which is essentially the same to the requirement of the reasonable foresight in causation. So,it is not causation but negligence that the limit of liability should be conditioned on.