Perspective of the panorama of Internet life in the era of the Civil Code
Interview with Yao Jia
□ Our reporter Zhu Ningning
The Civil Code is the first law named after "dian" in New China. The value of the codification of the civil law is not only reflected in the realization of the basic civil legal system, but also the deepening and clarification of the behavioral norms in many areas of social life.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the Civil Code is a code with distinctive characteristics of the times. With the continuous upgrade and iteration of information technology, the Civil Code has responded positively to the new problems that accompany it, clarifying a series of new issues such as network virtual property, electronic contracts, and network tort liability, thus forming a set of The new cyber civil code of conduct.
In the Internet age, how will the Civil Code affect our lives? What protection will be provided to netizens? Yao Jia, editor of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, recently accepted an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily to provide answers.
Not all new rules
Reporter: At the moment, online shopping and online social networking have become the norm in people's lives. The relationships that people form through the Internet constitute an online ecosystem. We know that the Internet is not illegal, so what is the current situation of my country's network ecological legal system? Among them, what role does the Civil Code play?
Yao Jia: In recent years, with the development of network information technology, people's daily behavior has also undergone profound changes. Most of the activities are related to the Internet. These behaviors form a corresponding relationship between individuals, individuals and platforms (network service providers), and platforms and platforms. In order to adjust the network ecology, my country has formulated laws such as the Cyber Security Law and the Electronic Commerce Law, and has also issued relevant regulations and normative documents. These specifications mainly target online transactions, online publishing services, Internet news information services, blockchain information services, children's personal information network protection regulations, online information content ecological governance, network security review, information search, live broadcast, Internet forum communities, and follow-ups Comment services, micro-blog information services, online audio and video information services, illegal collection of personal information and personal information protection. These regulations not only form a group of legal norms that adjust the network ecology to a certain extent, but also subtly influence the formulation and formation of network-related behavior norms in the Civil Code.
The Internet-related civil norms covered by the Civil Code are not all completely new rules. To a certain extent, they are a deep systematic integration of Internet behavior practices and Internet ecological governance practices. Among them, there are not only the absorption and improvement of the current rules, but also some creative regulations.
Play the role of set points and stop contention
Reporter: In order to cope with the new challenges brought about by the Internet age, what are the important provisions of the Civil Code? What impact will these regulations have on the development of the network society in the future?
Yao Jia: The Civil Code is the basic norm for people to engage in civil actions and establish corresponding legal relations. The Civil Code has more systematic regulations on the rules of online shopping contracts in people's daily life, the protection of personal information related to the Internet, and the legal responsibilities for infringing on the civil rights of others in online social networking. The significance of these regulations is not only to provide clearer guidance and expectations for people's behavior, but more importantly, when people generally or integrally follow the corresponding behavior rules, they can build a good network ecology on a larger scale. From a general point of view, the norms concerning cyber civil actions in the Civil Code are based on social reality, reflecting a kind of "creative" deep integration, in encouraging transactions, safeguarding transaction security, and assuming tort liability when the subject's civil rights are violated, etc. The corresponding rules were further constructed.
The Civil Code establishes relevant rules for the establishment and performance of electronic contracts. In the traditional contract law rules, how to explain the establishment and performance of online shopping contracts sometimes has certain uncertainties and difficulties to identify, which brings certain difficulties to dispute resolution. For example, the second paragraph of Article 491 of the Civil Code stipulates that if one of the parties publishes goods or service information through the Internet or other information networks that meets the conditions of the offer, the other party chooses the goods or services and submits the order successfully when the contract is established, but the parties Unless otherwise agreed. This actually clarifies that the timing of online shopping and other contracts is the time when the parties submit the order, and this has changed many previous practices that used website confirmation emails, confirmation text messages, or actual shipments from the website as the time when the contract was established. This gives a conclusion about what is an offer and what is a promise in the online shopping contract behavior that may have been disputed in the past. For another example, the provisions of Article 512 of the Civil Code clarify the delivery time in the performance of electronic contracts, that is, when the consignee’s signing time is the delivery time, and when the service is provided or the subject matter can be delivered online , How to determine the delivery time and other issues. It can be said that the relevant legal provisions on electronic contracts in the Civil Code are in line with the current transaction characteristics of online shopping activities, people’s trading habits, and public perceptions, and can reduce differences on fundamental and prerequisite issues when disputes arise. , And then better realize the role of law to determine division and stop disputes.
The Civil Code has perfected the relevant provisions on the liability for online infringement. Regarding online infringement liability, it is stipulated in Article 36 of the Tort Liability Law. The Civil Code has improved the online infringement liability system in the Infringement Liability Section, refined the specific provisions on online infringement liability, and improved the notice rules for right holders and the Internet. Service provider’s forward notification rules. There are 95 articles of tort liability in the Civil Code, four of which involve network tort liability. Compared with Article 36 of the Tort Liability Law, these articles are more detailed and richer, clarifying infringers, victims, and network service providers. The rights and obligations and corresponding responsibilities. In fact, these regulations mainly draw on the core essence of the "notice-delete" rule established by the Electronic Commerce Law, and construct the responsibility safe haven rule based on information transfer and related operations. At the same time, the Civil Code has also perfected the unreasonable aspects of these provisions, including the right holders to disclose their true identity information, the liability for damage caused by the wrong notification of the parties, and the adjustment of the network service provider's right to forward the declaration. Person’s corresponding deadlines and other content.
It is worth mentioning that the Civil Code clearly stipulates that new types of properties or objects such as data and network virtual property shall be included in the scope of legal protection.
Interpret the law correctly
Reporter: In future judicial practice, will some rules in the Civil Code affect the outcome of the case? What issues should the judge pay attention to when making a decision?
Yao Jia: The relevant rules of electronic contracts in the Civil Code will have a more important impact on future judicial practice. Because in previous cases related to online shopping contracts, judges often recognized the validity of the website terms of use and other format terms, and believed that according to the terms of use of the website, the contract has not been established after the consumer submits the order and pays, and the contract is only required when the merchant actually delivers the goods. Established. For example, in an online shopping contract dispute case, the court recognized the validity of the website’s standard contract terms and held that even when the buyer submitted an order and paid the purchase price, the contract between the two parties was still not established. This judgment does not conform to consumers' daily shopping habits to a considerable extent, and it also violates consumers' most basic trust in websites. After the promulgation and implementation of the Civil Code, such cases will basically not be disputed. As long as the product or service information released by one of the parties meets the conditions of the offer, the contract is established when the other party selects the product or service and successfully submits the order. This will objectively reduce people's differences in understanding, and thus have a clearer understanding of contract establishment and contract performance.
The implementation of the Civil Code will also have an impact on the trial of online infringement cases. The Civil Code specifies the procedures and chains of how to determine the responsibility of all parties for network infringement. Compared with the relevant rules in the Tort Liability Law and the Electronic Commerce Law, the rules in the Civil Code have more certainty and sufficient evidence. It is conducive to objectively and accurately determining the tort liability of relevant subjects.
We say that any statutory law is not perfect and needs to be constantly discovered and perfected in trial practice. At the same time, an explanation that conforms to objective facts and practice is also very necessary. Therefore, when applying the relevant rules of the Civil Code, judges should follow many legal interpretation methods such as literal interpretation, system interpretation, and purpose interpretation, and at the same time, combine the facts of the case to make an interpretation that conforms to public perception. In this way, the practice of judicial adjudication can provide certain evaluation and value judgment for people to engage in network-related behaviors, and form a certain guiding role.