The Methodology of the Integration of Civil and Commercial Law in the Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the General Provisions of Book Three Contracts of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

The Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the General Provisions of Book Three Contracts of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter the Interpretation on the General Provisions of Book Three Contracts of the Civil Code) contains a substantial number of commercial legal norms. These norms constitute an important component of the rule-of-law framework for the equal protection of market participants and reflect the technique for drafting judicial interpretations under the integration of civil and commercial law. The integration of civil and commercial law is a critical legal application methodology when resolving contract disputes pursuant to the Interpretation on the General Provisions of Book Three Contracts of the Civil Code. One may critically examine, under the Interpretation on the General Provisions of Book Three Contracts of the Civil Code, the integration of civil and commercial law in the contexts of company-shareholder relationships, company-creditor relationships, and company-director/supervisor/senior executive relationships, as well as the integration of civil and commercial law among the Interpretation on the General Provisions of Book Three Contracts of the Civil Code, the Securities Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter the Securities Law), the Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter the Insurance Law) and the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law). Drawing on these civil-commercial intersectional examples, the methods of legal application under the integration of civil and commercial law can be specified as the referential application, analogical application, supplementary application, and reverse referential application of civil law norms in commercial relationships. Commercial law is not self-sufficient when it regulates commercial relationships, nor can civil law norms be applied to commercial relationships in an undifferentiated and all-encompassing manner.

Keywords

the Interpretation on the General Provisions of Book Three Contracts of the Civil Code / integration of civil and commercial law / methods of legal application

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