略论我国合同法上违约金性质的演变——从《经济合同法》到《合同法》的考察

On Evolution of the Nature of Penalty in Contract Law of China——Study from Economic Contract Law to Contract Law

我国自1949年建国以来,合同法上的违约金制度主要经历了两个阶段,即《经济合同法》时代和《合同法》时代的违约金制度,我国合同法上的违约金的性质也随着《经济合同法》时代到《合同法》时代的变迁而发生演变。《经济合同法》时代依托的是我国社会主义计划经济以及计划经济向市场经济转轨的阶段,这一时代的违约金具有惩罚性与补偿性相结合,以惩罚性为主,以补偿性为辅的性质;《合同法》时代依托的是社会主义市场经济阶段,这一时代的违约金的性质相较于《经济合同法》时代已经发生了演变,它的性质演变成以补偿性为原则,以惩罚性为例外。

Since the founding of our country in the 1949, the penalty system of the contract law has gone through two stages, that is, the period of Economic Contract Law and the penalty system in the era of Contract Law, and the nature of the penalty of breach of Contract Law in our country has evolved with the change of the era of Economic Contract Law to Contract Law. The era of Economic Contract Law is based on the stage of China's socialist planned economy and the transition from planned economy to market economy, the penalty of this era has the combination of punitive and compensatory, mainly punitive, with compensatory auxiliary nature;the era of Contract Law is based on the stage of socialist market economy, the nature of the penalty of breach of contract in this era has evolved compared with the era of Economic Contract Law, and its nature has evolved into the principle of compensation, with the exception of punitive.