政务活动下的债案审断:19世纪中后期地方官府与倒账案

Judgment of Debt Cases in Government Activities: Local Government and Dao Zhang [倒账] in the Middle and Late 19th Century

19世纪中后期长江流域主要商贸口岸频繁发生倒账案,严重影响地区商业秩序。地方官府开始大规模介入倒账案,但对于不同类型倒账案,地方官府有着不同的审断模式。普通倒账案,以息讼为主;区域性大规模倒账风潮,侧重于维护地方社会经济秩序;涉官、涉洋倒账案,力求保障公款、洋款债权优先权。从不同倒账案审断模式可见,地方官府更加关注明显或直接涉及自身利益的案件;并根据涉及自身利益程度不同,采取不同行动策略。这种政务活动式的审断,对债主或倒账者都有着重要影响,也是促成清末商事法律变革的重要诱因。

In the middle and late 19th century,the major commercial ports in the Yangtze River Basin frequently suffered from dao zhang,which seriously affected the regional commercial order.The local government began to intervene in large-scale cases of dao zhang.As to the different types of dao zhang,the local government had different modes of judgment.The local government aimed to quell the litigation for dao zhang cases between ordinary businessmen,whereas maintained social and economic order for the regional wave of large-scale cases.As to the“official-related”and“foreign-related”dao zhang cases,they sought to protect the priority of public funds and foreign-funded creditor's rights.From the different modes of judging the dao zhang cases,it can be seen that the local government paid more attention to cases that were obviously or directly related to their own interests.According to the degree of their own interests involved,they took different action strategies.This kind of administrative activity-based judgment had an important influence on creditors or debtors,and was also an important incentive to promote the commercial legal reform in the late Qing Dynasty.