《法律适用法》第3条的立法意涵和司法检视

The Legislative Connotation and Juridical Inspection of Article 3 of Chinese Law on Application of Laws over Foreign-Related Civil Relations

《法律适用法》第3条规定,“当事人依照法律规定可以明示选择涉外民事关系适用的法律”。这在一定程度上决定了当事人意思自治在中国立法中的定位。《法律适用法》第3条中“依照法律规定”是指依照中国法律和司法解释中含有当事人意思自治连结点的法律适用规则,即只有符合中国法律规定的情形下,当事人才可以选择法律。如存在不适用当事人意思自治的特别规定,则依据特别规定,适用其他连结点来确定准据法。因此,当事人意思自治只能适用于部分涉外民事关系,尚未成为法律适用的基本原则。我们在研究大量法院判决的基础上发现,司法实践中存在不规范适用《法律适用法》第3条的诸多问题,如在判决书中未释明适用第3条的理由,在非涉外民事案件中援引第3条,援引第3条确定准据法的逻辑思路不规范,以及存在对《司法解释(一)》第4条的忽略与误解。为完善当事人依法选择适用法律(包括域外法)之司法审判制度,法院应厘清《法律适用法》第3条的适用逻辑,在判决书中释明《法律适用法》第3条的适用理由,并加强对涉外民事司法审判中法律适用的指导,避免出现裁判文书中的法律适用瑕疵。

Article 3 of Chinese Law on Application of Laws over Foreign-Related Civil Relations(hereinafter referred to as Law on Application of Laws)stipulates that the parties may explicitly choose the laws applicable to foreign-related civil relations in accordance with the provisions of law,which determines the orientation of party autonomy in Chinese legislation to some extent.The phrase“in accordance with the provisions of law”in Article 3 refers to the rules of application of laws with the connecting point of party autonomy in Chinese laws and judicial interpretations.That is,only in accordance with the provisions of Chinese law are the parties allowed to choose the applicable law.If there is a special provision that excludes party autonomy,other connecting points are applied to determine the applicable law.Therefore,party autonomy,applying only to foreign-related civil relations as provided in Chinese law,has not yet become the basic principle of application of laws over foreign-related civil relations.Based on the study of a large number of judicial decisions,it is found that there exist many problems of the application of Article 3 in judicial practice,such as that the reasons for applying Article 3 are not explained in a certain amount of judgments,that Article 3 is applied to some non-foreign civil cases,that the logic of applying Article 3 to determine the applicable law is not convincing,and that Article 4 of Judicial Interpretation(I)of Law on Application of Laws is forgotten and misunderstood to some extent.In order to refine the judicial system that allows the parties in foreign-related civil lawsuits to lawfully choose applicable laws including extraterritorial laws,the court should clarify the rationale for application of Article 3,elucidate the reasons for application of Article 3 in judgments,and strengthen guidance on application of laws in foreign-related civil trials so as to avoid the defects of application of laws in judgments.