我国控制股东信义义务的司法续造

Judicial Continuation of the Fiduciary Duty of Controlling Shareholders in China

在我国公司股权结构相对集中的背景下,控制股东行为规制与信义义务的司法续造,已成为我国公司治理的重要课题。现有立法对控制股东的行为规制,存在供给不足之缺陷,应以控制股东信义义务进行弥补。美国对控制股东信义义务审查的演进路径,经历了从信义义务的内涵解释到标准认定的个案审查过程,从关注形式审查到偏向实质公平的过程。在司法实践中,我国往往以《公司法》第20条作为控制股东滥权行为的审查依据,但该条将股东责任限缩于原则层面,缺乏具体可操作的实体标准,无论是股东义务范围界定或是审查标准选用,均无法满足司法审判的实际需求。应设定合理的实体裁判尺度,正确对待控制股东控制权,厘清控制股东信义义务的范围,在此基础上,借鉴美国法对控制股东信义义务审查的商业判断规则与实质公平规则,在尊重程序公正的基础上,审查控制股东的行为是否达到实质公平,以实现控制股东信义义务规制的根本目的,完成公司治理中控制股东行为认定的司法续造。

In the context of the relatively concentrated shareholding structure of our country’s companies,the judicial renewal of the regulation of shareholder behavior and fduciary duties has become an important issue in our country’s corporate governance.Existing legislation regulates the behavior of controlling shareholders,and there is a deficiency of insufficient supply,which should be compensated by the fduciary duty of controlling shareholders.The evolving path of the review of the fduciary duty of controlling shareholders in the United States has gone through the process of individual case review from the interpretation of the connotation of the fiduciary duty to the determination of the standard,and the process from focusing on formal review to biasing towards substantial fairness.In our country’s judicial practice,Article 20 of the"Company Law"is often used as the basis for review of controlling shareholder abuses.However,this article limits shareholder’s liability to the principle level and lacks specific and practical substantive standards,regardless of the scope of shareholder obligations.Neither the definition nor the selection of review standards can meet the actual needs of judicial trials.It is necessary to set reasonable standards of entity judgment,treat the control rights of controlling shareholders correctly,and clarify the scope of the fduciary duty of controlling shareholders.On this basis,it is necessary to learn from the business judgment rules and substantive fairness rules of the American law on the fiduciary duty of controlling shareholders,and respect the procedures on the basis of justice,review whether the behavior of controlling shareholders is substantially fair,in order to achieve the fundamental purpose of the regulation of the fduciary duty of controlling shareholders,and complete the judicial renewal of the determination of controlling shareholders’behavior in corporate governance.