Main tasks and practical skills:
- The Judge should study thoroughly Resolution No. 01/2004/NQ-HDTP, which provides detailed guidance for application of Article 609 of the Civil Code 1995 (Article 604 of the Civil Code 2005). In general, liability to pay compensation for damage arises if all the following conditions exist:
- Damage has occurred (Sub-section 1.1);
- There was an act contrary to the law (Sub-section 1.2);
- There was a causal link between the damage and the act contrary to the law (Sub-section 1.3);
- There must have been the intention or recklessness to cause damage. (Sub-section 1.4).
- The causal link is determined to have arisen when the damage has resulted obviously from the act contrary to the applicable laws, in other words, the act contrary to the laws has caused the damages. It shall not always be true that any act contrary to the applicable laws and any damage which occurs create the causal link. For example: A person possessing no driving licence is driving a car. This is an act contrary to the laws. The person stops the car on the road (in the right position and complying with other regulations for stopping and parking), another person does not look carefully at the road and crashes into the car and causes damage to the car. In this case, it will be impossible to conclude that the damage is due to the fact that the driver was driving without a licence.
- The Judge must distinguish the reasons from the result. The reason for a result is what causes such a result under normal conditions; a condition cannot create a result, it only quickens or slows the occurrence of the result, strengthens or weakens it.
- The requirement for proving the conditions which result in responsibility to pay compensation for damage is the same as the requirement for collecting evidence to resolve a dispute over compensation for damage. There are circumstances where the four mentioned conditions are not met (responsibility to pay compensation for non-fault damage), which shall be discussed in another section.
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