CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE STRICT LIABILITY FOR ABNORMALLY DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES UNDER VIETNAMESE LAW

Abstract This paper critically analyzes the doctrinal inconsistency within Vietnam's Civil Code 2015 (CC 2015) concerning corporate Strict Liability for Abnormally dangerous activities (ADAs) (known as “Nguồn Nguy Hiểm Cao Độ” - ADAS in Vietnamese law). While Article 601 of the CC 2015 explicitly imposes liability regardless of fault, it permits a complete defense (exoneration) if the damage is caused solely by the victim’s intentional fault. Employing a comparative legal methodology, complemented by a qualitative analysis of Vietnamese case law and expert interviews, this study argues that the inclusion of a corporate tort liability fundamentally undermines the core rationale of strict liability, which is predicated upon Risk distribution and Economic Deterrence. The resulting mechanism is defined as Imperfect strict liability. The paper compares Vietnam's approach with the handling of defenses in U.S. Tort Law (specifically the application of Comparative fault in SL cases under the Restatement (Third) of Torts) and the German Risk Liability (Gefährdungshaftung). The findings indicate that international norms prefer a reduction of damages proportionate to the victim's ordinary negligence, rather than complete exoneration. Consequently, the study recommends a legislative amendment to eliminate the corporate tort liability in Article 601, replacing it with a mechanism for a proportional reduction of damages in cases of victim culpability, thereby aligning Vietnamese law with prevailing global legal and economic principles of accident cost allocation.