论违约精神损害赔偿制度的适用难题与纾解之道——以《民法典》第996条为中心

On the Application of the Mental Damage Compensation System for Breach of Contract and the Way to Ease--Focusing on the Article 996 of the Civil Code

《民法典》第996条对于违约精神损害赔偿的规定令我国的违约精神损害赔偿制度构建实现了突破性的进展。以《民法典》第996条为中心,对其在学界和实践中的争议进行研究,发现该条存在责任属性不明确、对人格权外的精神利益保障不够完备以及相关标准界定模糊导致司法实践中难以适用等问题。以责任竞合规则界定本条款有利于第996条与第186条的互相协调,对该条的“人格权”所包含的精神利益的范围予以适当扩大,能够使守约方的精神利益得到更全面的保障,对相关规定进行进一步细化,能够使违约精神损害赔偿制度在实践中更易于适用,也能使该制度更加完善具体。

The Article 996 of the Civil Code makes a breakthrough in the construction of the compensation system for breach of contract.Taking the Article 996 of the Civil Code as the center,this paper studies its disputes in academic circles and practice,and finds that there are some problems in this article,such as unclear attribute of responsibility,incomplete protection of spiritual interests other than personality rights,and vague definition of relevant standards,which make it difficult to be applied in judicial practice.The definition of this article by the liability concurrence rule is conducive to the coordination between the Article 996 and the Article 186,and appropriately expands the scope of spiritual interests contained in the"personality right"of this article,so that the spiritual interests of the non-breaching party can be more comprehensively protected,and the further elaboration of relevant provisions can make the compensation system for breach of contract for mental damage easier to be applied in practice.It can also make the system more perfect and concrete.