《民法典》第919条(委托合同的定义)评注

Comments on Article 919 of the Civil Code(Definition of Contract of Mandate)

《民法典》第919条是委托合同的定义条款,功能在于判断当事人合意是否构成委托合同,此为适用委托合同一章法律规定的前提。主张当事人合意成立委托合同关系的一方,即希望援引委托合同一章法律规定的一方,应当负担证明责任。委托合同的主体要素包括委托人与受托人,标的要素是劳务行为之给付而有别于劳务结果之给付,内容要素包括“受托人处理”与“委托人事务”。此外,即便当事人合意符合委托合同的定义内涵,但可能因为具有其他要素而构成他种合同类型,故还应将委托合同置于劳务给付合同体系内,与其他合同进行平行对比,以厘清委托合同的外部边界,这是体系要求对委托合同之外延的限缩。本条作为辅助规范的“法律效果”在于,当事人合意如满足本条定义而构成委托合同关系,原则上可适用委托合同一章法律规定,但也存在例外情形。委托合同的效力瑕疵事由包括违反书面形式的强制要求、违反强制性规定、违背公序良俗、未经审批而尚未生效,这些均为合同效力瑕疵在委托合同项下的具体表现与特有现象。

Article 919 of the Civil Code works as the definition provision for contract of mandate.Its function is to determine whether the agreement of the parties should be characterized as contract of mandate,so that the provisions on contracts of mandate(ChapterⅩ)shall apply.The party claiming establishment of a contract of mandate relationship and invoking the said provisions shall bear the burden of proof.In terms of elements of contract of mandate,the subjective elements include mandator and mandatary;the objective element is the duty of best efforts(Leistungshandlung,Subjektiven Obligationen)instead of the duty to achieve a specific result(Leistungserfolg,Objektiven Obligationen);the content elements include“mandatary handling”and“affairs of the mandator”.However,due to other elements contained thereof,an agreement satisfying the definition of contract of mandate could actually fall into other types of contract.In order to clarify the extension of contract of mandate,a comparison with other types of contracts within the whole service contract(labor payment contract)system is necessary,i.e.to limit the extension of contract of mandate out of structure interpretation.Art.919 is in nature a helping rule(Hilfsnorm).The“legal effect”is that if the agreement of the parties satisfies the definition of this provision and is characterized as contract of mandate,the subsequent provisions for contracts of mandate(ChapterⅩⅩⅢ)are in principle applicable,with nevertheless a few exceptions.Defects in the validity of contracts of mandate can be caused by non-fulfillment of the mandatory requirement of written form,violation of the imperative provisions,violation of public order and good morals,non-fulfillment of mandatory approving requirements,and etc.,which are all general rules but could have special manifestations when being applied to identify defects in the validity specific for contracts of mandate.