An old lady in Chongqing sneaked into the vegetable garden to steal vegetables. She was found and ran away. In the process of chasing the vegetable owner, the old lady accidentally fell down and was injured in hospital. Is the owner liable for the old lady's injury? Recently, the People's Court of Yongchuan District, Chongqing, concluded a case and decided to reject all claims of the "vegetable thief". (June 13, Modern Express)
The majority of netizens pay great attention to the trial process and the judgment result of this case, because they are eager to know whether, as the owner of the vegetable garden, it is necessary to compensate the injured people who were found stealing vegetables and escaped in such a case with obvious merits and wrongs? If the court finally decides that the owner of the vegetable garden needs compensation, then when he or she encounters similar things in the future, he or she should not chase the person who steals or damages his or her property?
With the conclusion of the case, the court decided to reject all the claims of the "vegetable thief" party, which undoubtedly made the majority of netizens breathe a sigh of relief. In the eyes of many netizens, the verdict of the case means that justice has been upheld, fairness has been maintained, and people who covet other people's property have also been effectively alerted and deterred.
The reason why the "vegetable thief" filed a lawsuit was that he was found and chased by the vegetable garden owner in the process of stealing vegetables, but he fell down carelessly in the process of escape, resulting in physical injury, so he asked the vegetable garden owner to compensate. However, the court held that the owner of the vegetable garden stopped it just to protect his legal property from being infringed, and chased after him with tools, but he did not beat the other party. It was because the other party's theft was found and he fell down and hurt himself in the process of fleeing in a panic, so he should bear such responsibility himself.
From the legal point of view, whether the actor should bear the tort liability should be analyzed and judged from the fault of the actor, the illegality of the act, the result of the damage, and the causal relationship between the damage result and the tort. The Civil Code stipulates that the party whose legitimate rights and interests have been infringed can carry out emergency self-help actions because of the urgency of the situation. In this case, Wang Mou, the "vegetable thief", is suspected of infringing the property rights of the vegetable garden owner. In order to prevent the vegetable garden owner from being unable to provide evidence and pursue after the event, resulting in irreparable damage to his rights and interests, the act of stopping Wang Mou and pursuing him does not exceed reasonable limits, which is a legitimate self-help act.
In addition, according to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, civil subjects shall not violate the law, public order and good customs in their daily life. In this case, the "vegetable thief"'s behavior of stealing vegetables is not tolerant of morality and law, and cannot be judged as "who is right" because of "who is injured", nor "who is right" because of "who is crying". The verdict of the case not only conforms to the spirit of the rule of law, but also conforms to the expectations of the public. The verdict means that the justice will not let any law-abiding person pay for the illegal acts or faults of others. No one can profit from his illegal behavior.
The sentence of the case has a dual meaning of morality and law for us. From the legal point of view, we should abide by national laws and regulations and not do illegal things; From the moral point of view, we should strengthen moral self-discipline and not do things that harm the interests of others. Otherwise, the final result will inevitably be incompatible with law and morality, and will inevitably pay the double price of law and morality.
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