民法的起源:一个思想实验

The Origin of Civil Law:A Thought Experiment

与古代立法普遍采用黑清单模式不同,源于古罗马的民事与商事法律制度以默认规则为主,其立法采用“路线图模式”。路线图的原型就是主流的交易模式,其合理性是统计学意义上的。只要当事人采用主流的交易模式,默认规则就会补充合约的漏洞,成为合约的组成部分,从而降低当事人的交易成本。以默认规则或路线图模式的逻辑为线索,我们可以重新理解民法的起源、功能及其发挥作用的机制,还能发现现行民事和商事法律制度存在的巨大优化空间。实际上,民法学界长期争论的“人格权是否应该独立成编”问题,若离开这个逻辑,也没有确定的答案。

Different from the“blacklist”approach to legislation which was widely adopted in history,civil and commercial laws and regulations originated in ancient Roman Empire were much dominated by default rules which can be summarized into a“roadmap”approach based on the mainstream transaction model.Such an approach is statistically reasonable and appropriate.So long as the parties adopt the mainstream model in making transactions,default rules will automatically fill the gaps in contracts,thus becoming an integral part of the contracts and reducing the transaction cost for the parties.Following this train of thought guided by default rules and the roadmap approach,the origin of civil law,its functions and mechanism,can all be reinterpreted,in which process ample room for improvement in civil and commercial laws and regulations can also be identified.In fact,no definitive answer to the question of whether Right of Personality should form an independent chapter of its own within the Civil Code can be pinpointed without a deep understanding of the same logic behind the scene.