论出资意义上股东协议与公司章程的冲突适用规则

Conflicting Rules of Shareholders'Agreement and Corporation's Articles of Association in the Sense of Capital Contribution

司法实务中,股东协议和公司章程都可能成为股东出资义务履行的依据。公司章程终止股东协议的学说观点,是对股东协议功能的错误定位,既不合于国外立法,也与合同终止理论、国内的立法和司法判决不符。基于我国股东会中心主义的公司治理模式、立法已经认可股东书面一致同意可以替代股东会决议等理由,补充股东协议、而非召开股东会表决的方式可以变更章程内容。在出资事项上,股东协议与公司章程本质上的约定性,决定了二者没有必然的效力优劣之分。由此,股东协议和公司章程发生冲突时,应当按照有效性规则、区分规则、真意探寻规则的逻辑顺序来判定适用何种依据。本轮公司法修订时,应当正视公司章程之外、作为非法定程式的股东协议的存在,应当正视股东协议并非仅仅涉及公司设立阶段当事人的权利义务安排,并妥善处理好公司章程与股东协议之间的适用关系。

In legal practice,both the shareholders'agreement and the corporation's articles of association may become the claim basis for shareholders'obligations for capital contribution.The viewpoint of the corporation's articles of association to terminate the shareholders'agreement is a wrong positioning of the function of the shareholders'agreement,which is inconsistent with foreign legislation,contract termination theory,and domestic legislation and judicial judgment.For the reason that the Corporation Law of PRC has established a shareholder primacy model in corporate governance and the legislation has recognized that the unanimous written consent of shareholders can replace the resolution of the shareholders'meeting,the content of the articles of association can be changed by supplementing the shareholders'agreement rather than voting at a shareholders'meeting.In terms of capital contribution,shareholders'agreement and articles of association are both contractual in nature,and articles of association do not have advantages over shareholders'agreement in application.Therefore,when deciding which one to be applied when they are in conflict,the proof should be based on the logical order of the principle of validity,the principle of distinction,and the principle of seeking the true willingness.In the current round of the revision of the Corporation Law of PRC,it is necessary to face up to the existence of shareholders'agreement as a non-statutory document other than the articles of association,face up to the fact that the shareholders'agreement does not only involve the rights and obligations of the parties at the establishment stage of the corporation,and properly handle the applicable relationship between the articles of association and the shareholders'agreement.