Misunderstanding of the effect of criminal judgments in civil litigations and the rectification
For a long time,the effect of criminal judgments in civil litigations,as a critical issue in the intersection of criminal and civil law,has always been misunderstood by legal scholars and practitioners.In current China,the concept of presumed acceptance of criminal judgements stemming from Former Soviet Union has lost not only the textual basis for application,but also the necessity for further improvement.Neither the substantive due process nor the procedural due process could provide valid reasons to support the presumed acceptance of criminal judgments in civil litigations,not to mention support from the comparative law.Moreover,the principles of good faith and estoppel are not the same.For reasons of the limited procedural safeguards,criminal judgments can hardly be admissible in later civil actions to take effect of issue preclusion.Criminal judgments should have only two effects in civil proceedings.First,the conclusion of the criminal judgment could be used as direct evidence in a later civil suit to have effects on elements proof as subject to the substantive law.Second,the other parts of the criminal judgment could be used as indirect evidence in a later civil suit to have effects on factual proof as subject to the evidence law,and the criminal judgement in such use essentially plays a roll of public records evidence.A three layers'analytical framework,which represents a progressive determination from formal probative value,to direct probative value,and finally to indirect probative value,could provide some beneficial clues to judicial practice.
Intersection of criminal and civil lawEffect of judgmentPresumed acceptance of the judgementEffect of civil elementsPublic records
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