《民法典》涉他合同中第三人利益的实现途径

Ways to Realize the Interests of the Third Party in Contracts Involving Others in the Civil Code

合同的经典定义就应该是“双方当事人对权利义务的约定”,契约自由是合同的灵魂,合同的相对性及非涉他性是保证自由的基础。当事人既不能给第三人约定权利,更不能约定义务。如果涉及第三人,要么是代理问题,要么是侵权问题。但现代合同法已经大大超出了这种“相对性”的限制,出现了大量第三人利益的涉他性合同,这种“溢出”及“义务的扩大”导致的问题必须得到重视。我国《民法典》第522条就规定了第三人利益合同,但第三人利益如何实现却不甚清晰。纯正的为第三人利益的合同中,第三人是否具有合同解除权、债权人的抗辩能否对债务人行使等都没有规定;在非纯正的第三人利益合同中,第三人利益如何保护也几乎没有规定。因此,在我国《民法典》上,涉他合同中利益第三人的法律地位及债务人违约如何救济问题是需要澄清的问题。在我国《民法典》“债”的体系中,尤其是我国《民法典》第522条在区分不同第三人类型的基础上,必须根据体系结构给予第三人利益保护与救济。另外,作为合伙企业成立基础的合伙合同、作为公司成立基础的发起协议,从效力和制度构造上看,也应该被解释为为将来第三人利益的合同。

The classical definition of contract should be‘the agreement between the parties regarding on rights and obligations’.The freedom of contract is the soul of the contract,and the relativity and non-involvement-of-others of the contract are the basis of guaranteeing freedom.The parties can neither agree rights nor obligations to a third party.If a third party was involved,it either become an agency issue or turn into a tort issue.However,the modern contract law has gone far beyond the limitation of‘relativity’,and a large number of contracts involving the interests of a third party have appeared,and the problems caused by the‘overflow’and‘expansion of obligations’must be observed.The Article 522 of China’s Civil Code stipulates the third party’s beneficiary contract,but it is not clear how to realize the interests of the third party.In the pure contracts for the benefit of a third party,there are no regulations on whether the third party has the right to rescind the contract and whether the creditor’s defense can be exercised by the third party against the debtor;in the impure third party’s beneficiary contract,there are almost no provisions in protecting the interests of the third party.Therefore,in China’s Civil Code,the legal status of the third party with a benefit in contracts involving others and how to remedy the debtor’s breach of contract are issues that need to be clarified.In the system of‘debt’in the Civil Code,especially on the basis of the Article 522 of the Civil Code distinguishing different types of third parties,we must protect and relieve the interests of the third party according to the system structure.In addition,the contract of partnership which is the basis of the establishment of the partnerships,and the promoters’agreement as the basis of the establishment of a company,should also be interpreted as the third party’s beneficiary contracts in the future from the perspective of effectiveness and system structure.