环境健康诉讼因果关系与关联性适用混淆与破解研究

Research on the Confusion and Cracking of Causality and Relevance in Environmental Health Litigation

环境侵权复杂性、潜伏性及外延性等特点使其因果关系证明异常困难,为救济被侵权人,实现司法公正,我国在环境侵权诉讼中实行因果关系举证责任倒置规则,由侵权人承担因果关系不存在的证明责任,被侵权人仅证明行为与损害间具有“关联性”,以减轻被侵权人举证负担。但由于法律及司法解释规定不明晰,证明标准适用越位及法官受传统诉讼规则影响思维易进入误区等原因,造成司法实践中“因果关系”与“关联性”混淆的现象凸显。通过弘扬保护受害人的立法目的、完善法律及司法解释、明晰“关联性”适用标准,以克服“因果关系”与“关联性”混淆问题,保障“关联性”证明规则在司法实践中得到正确适用,以减轻被侵权人举证负担且实现司法公正的目标。

The complexity,latency and extension of environmental tort make it extremely difficult to prove causality.In order to relieve the infringed and realize justice,environmental litigation in China implements the inversion rule of proof of causality.The infringer bears the burden of proof that causality does not exist.The infringed only proves that there is a“relevance”between the act and the damage,so as to reduce the burden of proof of the infringed.However,due to the unclear legal provisions and judicial interpretation,the offside of the application of proof standard and the misunderstanding of judges'thinking influenced by traditional procedural rules,the confusion between“causality”and“relevance”in judicial practice is highlighted.Through carrying forward the legislative purpose of protecting victims,perfecting the legal and judicial interpretation,clarifying the applicable standard of“relevance”,we can overcome the confusion between“causality”and“relevance”,and ensure the correct application of the“relevance”proof rule in judicial practice,so as to reduce the burden of proof of the infringed and achieve judicial justice goal.