中国传统契约“原因条款”研究——兼与欧陆民法原因理论之比较

Study on the “Cause Clause”in Chinese Traditional Contracts——Concurrently on the Comparison with the Theory on Cause in Continental European Civil Laws

中国传统契约中的原因条款,不仅是一种事实,还具有重要的法律意涵,它既是直接引致订立契约的原因,同时也作为一方当事人订约的动机,体现对社会经济需求的某种满足。确定产权合法有效转移的契约本身又作为"产权"转移的重要原因,产权的有效移转和契约的有效成立在传统契约实践中是紧密联系的。明确契约之债的"原因",本身有助于更准确地对契约"定性",也能更方便地确定契约是否合法、有效。从交易安全与契约定性的角度看,中国传统契约中的原因条款亦具有现代价值。

The cause clause in Chinese traditional contracts is not only factual but also has important legaleffect which explains the direct reason to conclude the agreement and is deemed as the motivation of one partyconcerned to express certain satisfaction of social and economic needs. The contract itself to determine the ef-fective transfer of legal property rights is an important reason for the transfer of ＂property rights＂. The effectivetransfer of property rights and the effectiveness of the contract are closely connected in traditional contractualpractice. To explicitly determine the ＂cause＂ of the contractual obligation is beneficial to specify the ＂nature＂of the contract and to help confirm whether the contract is legitimately and effectively concluded. Therefore,the cause clause in Chinese traditional contracts has modern value from the perspectives of transaction safetyand specification of the nature of the contract.