자기책임의 원칙과 민사소송법상의 책임

The right to self-determination is derived from the right to pursuit of happiness that is the highest fundamental human right in the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, and the constitutional principle of self-responsibility exists in relation to the right to self-determination. The principle of proportionality, which is the standard for restricting fundamental human rights in the Constitution, becomes a specific standard for the scope(degree) of liability according to the principle of self-responsibility. The right to self-determination, the principle of self-responsibility, and the principle of proportionality should also be applied to the Civil Procedure Act as it is, and this is expressed as the following proposition according to the characteristics of the procedure act: “All citizens’ procedural opportunities should be sufficiently guaranteed to make their own decisions (choice of action) in civil litigation, and the attribution of the responsibility under Civil Procedure Act is justified only if such procedural opportunities are sufficiently guaranteed.” Based on the above recognition, this paper has first reviewed certain emphases to substantially guarantee the constitutional right to self-determination in civil litigation. Then it has reviewed certain topics from the viewpoint of respecting the constitutional value, which is regarding controversial points in connection with Res Judicata, that is typical format of the responsibility under Civil Procedure Act, and which are potentially problematic especially in relation to the principle of self-responsibility and the principle of proportionality.