Criminal omission in China: A comparative study with England

Abstract

This thesis enquires about the appropriate scope of criminal liability for omissions in China, whose current scope is unduly expansive, primarily from the perspective of the duty to act requirement. The focus of it is homicide by omission, as it is the offence where the problem is prominently reflected. In response to this problem, previous Chinese studies have provided a variety of solutions that are largely based on German and Japanese experiences. These solutions help solve the problem in terms of providing a wide range of substantive criteria for defining duty situations that allow China to select an appropriate approach to follow. However, when it comes to applying the relevant criteria to respective duty situations, the current Chinese approach fails to adequately address the problem. Such an inadequacy mainly stems from pursuing the consistent application of the proposed criteria.
The thesis seeks a more suitable solution by employing the comparative law method and comparing the Chinese experience with its English counterpart, which takes a different approach and has not been made the basis of a detailed comparison in the existing Chinese literature. The possible solution is that only a certain degree of commonality rather than complete consistency is required, and individual adjustments are made when necessary, considering the different peculiarities of various duty situations. Its suitability primarily arises from the respect it shows for the unique characteristics of specific duty situations, which should not be ignored without compelling reasons. Through comparing the Chinese and English experiences, the thesis also aims to contribute to developing a more appropriate Chinese legal framework for criminal omissions.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Yuqing Zhao: orcid.org/0009-0007-8631-034X

ORCID for Melinee Kazarian: orcid.org/0000-0003-0740-3155

ORCID for Nina Jorgensen: orcid.org/0000-0003-3499-8289

Catalogue record

Export record