依《德国普通商法典》缔结法律行为时的代理

Agency in the Conclusion of Legal Transaction in Accordance with the“General German Commercial Code(ADHGB)”

代理是辅助法律行为缔结并实现行为效果归属的重要私法制度,然而它却遭到不少学者从伦理角度提出的批评和否定。但是,这依然未能阻碍代理制度博得新近民事立法的青睐,《德国普通商法典》亦以成文法的形式对其予以肯定和确认。代理与为他人提供事实上的服务、使者、居间人、法律行为参与人、利益第三人合同、间接代理以及经由家庭隶属性成员而实现的权利或义务取得等法律制度或现象均不相同,应予区分。代理与委任也并非必然共生同在,有委任而无代理、有代理而无委任、代理和委任并存的状况在实践中都可能发生。《德国普通商法典》在针对代理制度进行规范设计时,基本贯彻了显名原则,要求代理人须以本人的名义实施行为,但也不否认个别例外案型的生成空间。就代理权的范围而言,可经由类型化的方式区隔出范围法定化的代理权及范围有待查明的代理权两种基本类型,不同的类型归属对于交易实践中的举证责任分配会产生关键影响。在效果的面向上,代理行为的效果,即权利义务均由被代理人承受。可是,鉴于代理行为本身源自代理人独立的意志,故代理行为的瑕疵唯以代理人方面的情状为据进行判断。在无权代理的场合,代理人承担的责任在法律性质上应属缔约过失,赔偿范围应将直接损失及所失利润一并涵括在内。但无权代理人责任的承担,应以代理人存在过失而相对人并无过失为前提。代理制度是现代交易法的名片,也是现代私法发展的重要动因之一。

Agency is an important institutional tool in private law that assists in the conclusion of legal transactions and contribute to the attribution of their legal effects.However,it has been criticized and denied by many scholars from an ethical perspective.Still,this couldn’t prevent the agency system from gaining the favor of recent civil legislation,and the“General German Commercial Code”also affirmed and confirmed it in the form of statutory law.Agency is different from the legal system or phenomenon of de facto services for others,messengers,intermediaries,participants in legal transactions,contract for third-party interests,indirect agency,and acquisition of rights or obligations through subordinate family members etc,they should be distinguished from each other.Agency and mandate coexist not necessarily.The situation of mandate without agency,agency without mandate,and the coexistence of agency and mandate may actually all happen.When designing the agency system,the“General German Commercial Code”has basically implemented the principle of disclosure,namely the agent has to perform actions in principal’s name.But it does not exclude the possiblity for the apperance of special cases.As far as the extent of agency is concerned,two basic types of agency can be distinguished through typification:agency with legally defined scope of capacity and agency with to be ascertained scope of capacity.In different types of agency the burden of proof in transaction practice is also different.In terms of legal effects,the legal effects resulting from agency,i.e.all rights and obligations are borne by the principal.However,since acts in agency itself originate from the independent will of agent,defects of agency can only be judged on the basis of the circumstances on the part of agent.In the case of unauthorized agency,the liability assumed by the agent essentially shall be a culpa in contrahendo,and the scope of compensation shall include both direct losses and profits loss.However,the assumption of the liability of an unauthorized agent should be based on the premise that the agent is at fault while the counterparty is unblamable.The agency system is the name card of modern transaction law and one of the important motivation to the development of modern private law.