诉讼时效立法中的几个问题

Some Problems on the Legislation of Extinctive Prescription

诉讼时效制度关涉债权人与债务人利益的平衡,较少涉及公共利益,相关规则应属任意性规范;即使认为其涉及公共利益,亦不能得出相关规则当然具有强制性的结论。当事人自得依法律行为缩短或延长法定时效期间,但基于诉讼时效的规范意旨,当事人的意思自由应受限制,其约定的时效期间不得短于1年,亦不得长于20年。法定的普通诉讼时效期间以3年为宜,同时辅之以最长20年时效期间,删除特别诉讼时效的规定,以建构简单、统一、明确的诉讼时效期间规则。

Extinctive prescription involves the balance of interests between the creditor and the debtor , and less involves the pub- lic interest. So, the relevant rules should be faeuhative. Even if it is regarded as involving the public interest, it should not be concluded that the relevant rules of course are mandatory. The parties may shorten or extend the limitation by juridical acts （ a- greement）. However, based on the specification of extinctive prescription, the autonomy of will should be restricted, i.e. the lim- itation period shall not be shorter than 1 year, and shall not be longer than 20 years. The statutory common limitation period should be set at three years, supplemented by the longest limitation period of up to 20 years. The special limitation period should be deleted, to build a simple, unified and clear rule on the limitation period.