항공기 운항자의 지상 제3자에 대한 무과실 책임에 관한 소고

The Ministry of Justice has completed draft of Part Ⅵ of the Korean Commercial Code, “Carriage by Air”. The international convention on air carriage such as the Montreal Convention 1999 and the Rome Convention 1952 and 1978 have affected seriously on the bill. This article discusses especially the liability for third party damages caused by aircraft. Some commentators criticise the draft because it has followed the principle [doctrine] of strict [absolute, no-fault] liability of the Rome convention. This writer has answered back in pointing that two treaties, which recently had been established by ICAO, one on the compensation for general risk damage caused by aircraft, the other one on compensation for damage from acts of unlawful interference involving aircraft, could not successfully in effect in the short future, although Both Conventions improved the old Convention/Protocol in many aspects. In the meantime, the Rome Convention System is still alive and it is urgently necessary for the Republic of Korea to have an alternative regulation on liability for third party damages caused by aircraft, because Korea has no other rules on air carriage but general conditions of air carriage made by air carrier. Blames to the principle of strict liability of the Rome convention also is groundless because this principle was adopted by consensus all participants to the Rome Convention.