论保险受益人的指定与适用范围——兼谈我国《保险法》关于受益人规则的完善

The Designation and The Scope of Application of The Beneficiary——Discussion on the perfection of the beneficiary provision in Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China

受益人介入商业保险活动,直接影响到保险合同之保障作用的适用效果和适用方向。因此,保险立法设计受益人制度的科学水平就关乎保险制度应有的社会功能是否得以发挥。分析我国《保险法》有关保险受益人的法律规则,因存在诸多法律疏漏而需要进行修改,达到完善受益人制度而适应中国保险市场的发展需要。为此,本文就保险受益人的指定和适用范围进行研究,发表个人看法。其中,关于保险受益人的指定问题,笔者认为,保险受益人的指定权惟有被保险人才能享有,这决定于保险合同的适用目标、法理基础和保险实务。而关于保险受益人的适用范围,笔者认为,应当将保险受益人制度的适用范围扩大到财产保险领域,用以适应保险实务的发展需要,理由是保险受益人的独立地位确定了其在财产保险中具有的独特作用;保险受益人基于被保险人的意愿获取的保险请求权,能够避免其参与财产保险过程中引发的道德危险。

The application direction and effect of theprotection function of insurance contract will be directly affect- ed with the inclusion of the beneficiary in commercial insurance. Therefore, the legislation on the beneficiary provi- sion is significant for whether the social function of the insurance system will be fulfilled. The beneficiary-relate- drules in China＇ s Insurance Law ought to be modified due to the existence of various defects in order to make it ap- propriate for the development of China＇ sinsurance market. The paper researched on the designation and scope of ap- plication of the beneficiaryand arrived at some opinions. The author argued that only the insured ought to be entitled with the right of beneficiary designation according to the application objective, legal rationale and actual practices of the insurance contract. As for the scope of application of beneficiary, the author argued that the scope of the applica- tion ought to be widened into the field of property insurance in order to meet the need of development of insurance practices. The reason for this was that the independence of beneficiary determined the unique function of beneficiary in property insuranceand that the beneficiary＇ s right ofinsuranee elaimsout of the will of the insuredcould prevent the beneficiary from the moral hazards within property insurance.