民国初年商事裁判的法源位阶考辨

Textual Analysis of the Hierarchy of the Legal Sources for Commercial Judicial Adjudication in Early Republican China

法律渊源是一个十分复杂的概念,它随着法律的发展演变而发生变化。法源不仅是立法者制定或认可的规范来源,也是审判机关在司法实践中认可和适用的判决依据。在法律体系不甚完备的情况下,立法者制定或认可的规范来源与司法者在裁判时的依据来源有时不相一致。因此,只有深入分析司法者裁判时的依据来源,才能对法源问题有更加清晰的认识。在民国初年,由于民法典尚未颁布,商事法律体系极不完善,在当时法律资源极其匮乏的情况下,各级审判机关除了根据制定法裁判外,依法订立的契约、商事习惯、判例和解释例、法理等任意法源也是商事裁判广泛适用的法源,民国初年的商事法源呈现出了复杂的特征。

The source of law is a highly complicated concept,evolving with the development of law.Legal sources encompass not only the norms established or recognized by legislators but also judgements acknowledged and applied by judicial authorities in their practice.In instances where the legal system is not sound,there may arise inconsistencies between the norms established or recognized by legislators and the sources relied upon by judges in their rulings.Therefore,a comprehensive analysis of the sources upon which judges rely in their decision-making is imperative for a lucid understanding of legal sources.During the nascent years of the Republic of China,the absence of a promulgated civil code and an imper-fect commercial legal framework resulted in a dearth of legal resources.Consequently,judicial authorities at various levels,in addition to relying on enacted laws,widely applied arbitrary legal sources such as contracts formulated in accordance with the law,commercial customs,precedents and illustrative case,as well as legal principles.As a result,the legal sources within the commercial law domain during the early years of the Republic of China exhibited intricate characteristics.