At the invitation of the College of Comparative Law, Professor Vincent R. Johnson, renowned professor in the US tort law & Dean of St. Mary’s University School of Law, gave a lecture on the New Issues in American Tort Law on Xueyuanlu Campus on the afternoon of 5 June, 2019.
The lecture was organized by the China-America Law Institute of the College, and its Director A/Prof. Feng Kai moderated the lecture. Prof. Sun Xinqiang from the Law School of Beihang University and Deputy Director of the China-America Law Institute A/Prof. He Qihao attended the lecture. This event is also the eighth of the serial celebrating lectures on the 10th Anniversary of the College of Comparative Law.
At the beginning of the lecture, Feng Kai extended warm welcome to Prof. Johnson on behalf of the College. She hoped to enhance academic research and exchange on new issues in tort law through this lecture.
Then, Prof. Johnson focused on two issues: driverless car accidents and personal privacy protection in digital age. Starting from how to deal with driverless car accidents in the US, Johnson analyzed the legislative development at both federal and state levels, and pointed out that such legal programs were mainly regulated by state laws and developed through abundant jurisprudence. Meantime, he discussed about the solution to the problem of liability under the framework of traditional tort law. When exploring the legal issues of personal privacy protection in digital age, he explained the approaches to the protection in the US through a series of precedents.
Sun Xinqiang pointed out the differences between case law and statute law and emphasized that Chinese students should study more cases to deepen their understanding of American Law. He claimed that from the perspective of comparative law, China’s tort law was relatively well-established and the new challenges could be tackled based on the existing tort law system and judicial interpretation methods.
He Qihao made comments from a comparative angle of Chinese and American Insurance Law. “We can deal with new problems according to traditional tort law rules as well as compensation funding system and government management,” he said.
The students were enthusiastic in participating in the lecture through raising questions and actively responding to Prof. Johnson.
The audiences said they gained a better understanding of how American tort law deals with the new issues and challenges posed by the development of new technologies; especially, the experience of comparative law is helpful to promote China’s legislation possibilities on new issues such as the driverless car accidents and the personal privacy protection in digital age.
