On elements (conditions) of the civil liability of the State for acts of state authorities and acts of legal entities owned by the State

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of determining and delimiting the elements (conditions) of the civil liability of the State for acts of State authorities and acts of legal entities owned by the State. Unlike the grounds of the civil liability which are legal facts, the elements (conditions) of such liability are generally considered to be the features which describe those grounds. The author emphasises that the elements (conditions) of the State’s civil liability include all the classical elements (conditions) of liability applicable to a participant of the civil relations, in particular 1) unlawful behavior, 2) damage, 3) existence of a causal link between unlawful behavior and damage, and 4) However, the peculiarities of the legal nature of the State’s civil liability may also give rise to special elements (conditions), which provide, in particular, that the fault or unlawful behavior of State organs as a condition for compensation under the rules of special torts are non-mandatory. In fact, the special elements (conditions) of the civil liability derive from the general elements (conditions) inherent in all or most cases, specifying them in light of the circumstances of a particular legally significant conduct. The author pays special attention to the civil liability of the State for acts of State authorities and acts of legal entities owned by the State, which occurs without fault or as a result of lawful actions of such organs and legal entities. This is based on the principle of unconditional liability, where the State assumes the obligation to compensate for damage even in the case of completely lawful behavior of the actual inflictor of damage. The fact that the State’s civil liability for actions of State bodies may occur without fault or for damage caused by lawfully conducted actions facilitates one of the goals of the civil law, namely to protect the rights and interests of victims. Despite numerous scientific discussions on the expediency of the concept of ‘no-fault liability’ in the civil law, the author is of the opinion that the latter concept is justified in cases comprising a special subject of the civil relations (a public authority, the State), a special object of the civil relations (actions or omissions which may cause devastating damage), or involving special civil relations (safe keeping, transportation etc.). It shall be noted that circumstances when fault no longer stands as a mandatory element (condition) of the State’s civil liability do not eliminate the need to prove the fault in case of its existence and other elements (conditions) of such liability, in particular the fact of commission of an offence (if that is the case) or conduct of lawful actions which led to damage, damage itself and causation link between the two.