LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY DOMESTICATED ANIMALS IN SERBIAN AND COMPARATIVE LAW
LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY DOMESTICATED ANIMALS IN SERBIAN AND COMPARATIVE LAW

Summary/Abstract: Legal systems differently regulate liability for damage caused by animals. Legislative solutions include strict liability and fault-based liability, the liability of the animal owner and the liability of the animal keeper, and the general regime for all animals and the specific regimes for certain animal categories. In view of these differences, the paper analyzes the liability for domesticated animals in French, Austrian and German law. In Serbian civil law, the development of liability for damage caused by domesticated animals is marked by a change of the liability regimes. The Civil Code of Serbia (1844) envisaged the fault-based liability. In the first years after World War II, the Serbian Civil Code provisions could be applied only conditionally. The developing judicial practice took a stance that strict liability would be more appropriate for this tort. The Serbian Civil Obligations Act (1978) does not specifically regulate this case of liability for damage, but the case law position is still valid. The Preliminary Draft of the Civil Code of the Republic of Serbia (2019) maintains the course of strict liability. The paper provides a normative, historical and comparative law analysis of liability for damage caused by domesticated animals in Serbian law and comparative law.

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