论环境侵权因果关系证明责任承担--对因果关系推定与因果关系证明责任倒置之区别的厘清

摘要

在因果关系推定的视域下，原告须先就损害行为与损害事实间的因果关系进行初步举证并达到一定程度的盖然性，然后才发生推定因果关系成立和证明责任倒置的效果。我国现行法采用的是因果关系证明责任倒置规则，证明要件从诉讼伊始就已经完成了分配，损害行为和所受损失由原告承担证明责任，而行为与损害间的因果关系则应当自始由被告来承担，故原告对因果关系提出“表面证据”或者“初步证据”并非被告举证证明因果关系不存在的证明责任倒置的前提%　　Under the theory of causation presumption, the plaintiff must firstly bear the initial burden of proof on the causation between the tort and the losses and achieve a certain degree of probability, and then the causation is pre-sumed to be established and the burden of proof is inversed. However, China’s current law adopts the rule of the in-version of burden of proof on causation so the elements of proof are completely distributed at the very beginning of the proceedings, and the plaintiff bear the burden of proof on the tort and the losses and the defendant bear the burden of proof on causation from the very beginning of the proceedings. Therefore, the defendant’s burden of proof on causa-tion is not premised by the "prima facie evidence" or "preliminary evidence" of causation presented by the plaintiff.