《民法典》背景下打破合同僵局的路径重估

Rethinking Ways to Break Contract Deadlocks in the Context of Civil Code

社会生活中合同僵局难以避免。狭义合同僵局打上了违约方解除权的烙印,广义合同僵局则有着更开放的场域。《民法典》摒弃了违约方申请解除的制度设计,转而增设申请终止规则。情事变更和申请终止规则对于化解合同僵局皆有一定价值,但适用范围均有限,为弥补漏洞申请解除仍有存在之必要和可能。公平原则和诚实信用原则应被作为申请解除的请求权基础,由此决定了申请解除的双重要件。多元路径之间并非相互排斥而是分工协同关系,共同构成打破合同僵局的完整规则体系。

The contract deadlock in narrow sense is branded with the dispute about the defaulting party’s right to terminate a contract, while the broad one is more inclusive and open. Civil Code refuses to accept the termination by defaulting party, and chooses to resolve the contract deadlock problem by other alternative ways, especially creating the rule of termination by application. However both the two ways above have some weak points, so it is still necessary and possible to accept termination by application to make up the loopholes. In view of the lack of specific provisions, the principle of fairness and the principle of good faith can be used as the right basis which determines the dual elements of the application for termination.