论《民法典》违约定金制度的改进

The Improvement of Arrha for Breach of Contract Rule in the Civil Code

违约定金的制度架构包括三个方面,即违约定金法律关系的创设、违约定金责任的适用条件以及违约定金与其他违约责任形式的关系。《民法典》在这三方面均作了改进,分别涉及定金合同的要物要求、多交少交定金的处理、能够引发违约定金责任的违约行为形态、违约定金责任的归责原则、违约定金与违约损害赔偿的并用等问题。这些调整总体而言理由充分,值得肯定。有的规定则有进一步的发展空间,比如:对定金合同仅作要式要求更为妥当,如能就意外事件的认定形成共识,采放松的严格责任原则更为合理,并用不得超过损失数额的规定在适用时应作目的性限缩。

The arrha for breach of contract rule has three aspects,ie.the establishment of arrha relation,the requirements for the application of arrha rule and the relationship between arrha and other forms of liability for breach of contract.Chinese Civil Code makes improvements in all these aspects,concerning the delivery requirement of arrha contract,the treatment of delivering more or less than agreed amount,the forms of breach which can trigger application of arrha rule,the imputation principle of arrha liability,the accumulation of arrha and damages,etc.In general,these modifications are reasonable and worthy of affirmation.There is room for development for some stipulations,for example,form requirement is more proper than delivery requirement,adoption of relaxed strict liability principle is more reasonable if consensus is reached about accidents,the rule of accumulation should be purposively limited during application.