论违约金调整的司法适用

The Application of Justice of Penal Bond Adjustment

契约自由是违约金制度得以存续的法理基础,基于维护当事人之间的公平,可以通过司法力量予以适度干预调整,使之不至于过高或者过低。针对违约金调整的具体适用,安徽、江苏、北京等地分别制定了具体的规则,但尚未统一。调整违约金的考量因素,法律不宜做出统一性的强制规定,在公平原则和诚实信用原则的要求下,法官可运用自由裁量权进行综合考量;在损失无法计算或损失无法证明时,民间借贷纠纷可适用银行同期贷款利率1倍到4倍的标准进行调整,其他合同纠纷适用合同标的额的同期贷款利息到30%作为调整区间。

Freedom of contract is the legal basis of the penal bond system. To maintain equity between the parties, the judges adjust the amount of penal bond so that it will not be too high or too low. For the specific application of penal bond adjustment, the courts of Anhui, Jiangsu, Beijing and other places ha-~e developed specific rules, but not unified. I believe that the law should not be made a unified and mandatory requirement about the adjustment of penal bond factors. The judge may use discretion, taking into account the requirements of the principle of fairness, honesty and trustworthiness. While the loss can not be calculated or can not be proved, the penal bond of private lending disputes can apply to bank lending rate doubled to four times, and the penal bond of other contract disputes can apply to the bank lending rate to 30 percent of the subject matter of the contract amount.