Abstract: In the Chinese civil code, a new legislative system of civil liability should be reestablished, which requires us to get better understanding of many legal problems about it•There are a lot of essential differences among civil liability, civil obligation and civil punishment• The civil liability and debt have undergone legislative evolvement from integration to separation• Civil liability is the essence of tort’s legal consequences•

Key words: civilliability, civilobligation, civilpunishment, debt, tort, civilcode