JEAIL > Volume 5(1); 2012 > Articles
Research Paper
Published online: May 30, 2012
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2012.5.1.04

Reshaping Private International Law in China: The Statutory Reform of Tort Conflicts

Zhengxin Huo
China University of Political Science and Law, China
No. 25 Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100088, P.R. China
Corresponding Author: huozhengxin@hotmail.com

ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This article reviews the statutory reform of Chinese private international law from the perspective of tort conflicts which concludes that notwithstanding the significant improvement, the new Private International Law Act of China are fraught with various defects. In the field of tort, Article 44 are problematic in three aspects: first, the key term 'habitual residence' lacks an objective definition; second, the rationality of an automatic preference to the law of the common habitual residence over the lex loci delicti is open to doubt; third, there is little, if any, practicability to introduce the notion that the parties may choose the applicable law after the tort has happened. Moreover, there are a number of defects or problems with Article 45, Article 46 and Article 50 of the Act, respectively. What's more, the Act neglects some other important types of torts which call for special treatment, say, unfair competition, and environmental pollution, nuclear damage and traffic accidents. In the end, the article puts forward the corresponding suggestions for improvement.

Keywords: China's New Private International Law Act, Tort Conflicts, Lex Loci Delicti, Double actionability, Common Habitual Residence, Party Autonomy, Particular Torts

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