论自然人签章的民法意义

On Seals Attached by the Natural Persons

签章是指某一自然人在民事法律性文件上签名或加盖印章或者签名并加盖印章的行为。其作用在于：一是“要式”作用；二是证据作用。自然人签章会发生在不同的场合，并且，随着签章人担任的社会角色的变化，其法律上的身份不尽相同，签章的法律效力也因此而有区别。故对于签章所产生的法律后果，必须结合签章行为人在某一具体法律关系中的法律身份才能加以界定。签名与盖章不能混为一谈，两者不能在法律上划等号，依据现行立法，一般而言，签名与盖章有同等的法律效力。当事人可以签名，也可以盖章代替签名。但法律有特别规定的，二者就有了严格的区别，不能相互替代。自然人签章存在的问题，一是立法上的。二是法律适用上的。对于问题的解决，笔者的建议是：完善有关签章的相关立法，做好法律宣传。

Seals attached by the natural persons in China has played a decisive role in some documents, and with therapid change of the society and differences of roles played by the natural persons on different occasions, the oegal signifi-cation of the seals becomes grooingly important in defining the legal status of the natural perons and determining their act-in the society. Thus, the writer in the article differentiates the seals from the signature by the natural persons and poobesinto the problems arising from determining the effect of the seals form the perspectives of the legislation as well as thefrom the proper application of laws.