合同第三人存在情形的实证分析——兼评第三人利益合同在我国存在与否之争

Abstract

传统民法理论强调合同相对性原则,原则上仅承认合同于当事人间发生效力。从现代合同立法及司法实践看,合同第三人的法律地位皆得以认可或实践。我国司法实践中存在着大量涉及第三人的合同,但合同法中的相关规定却过于简单。以第三人在合同履行中的作用是接受履行还是实践履行作为标准,对我国合同第三人的存在情形进行分类,可较全面探析第三人在合同中的权利和义务。从《合同法》第64条在《合同法》体系中的定位、内容及最高人民法院的司法解释来看,我国并未形成第三人利益合同制度。鉴于此类合同确实存在及相关立法规范的缺失,在未来合同立法中有必要加以规范,以完善合同制度。

The privity of contract is emphasized in traditional civil law theory,which means that a contract is effective only between the parties who enter into the contract.However,contemporary contract legislation and judicial practice have shown that the legal status of the third party of contract(TPOC) has been recognized or put into practice.In China,there are many contracts involving TPOC in judicial practice,but the stipulations regarding TPOC are too simple in The Contract Law.This paper argues that the rights and obligations of TPOC can be examined more comprehensively if we classify the various forms of existence of TPOC based on the distinction between the role of TPOC being to accept or materialize the execution of the contract concerned.The position and content of Article 64 in The Contract Law and the relevant judicial interpretations of PRC's Supreme People's Court all point to the lack of institutionalization of contracts for benefits to TPOC despite the existence of such contracts.It is suggested that when amending The Contract Law stipulations regarding TPOC should be provided to make our Contract Law more comprehensive.