四倍利率規則的司法實踐與重構－－利用實證研究解決規範問題的學術嘗試

An Empirical Study of Judicial Practice of the “Four-Time Interest Rate Rule” in China and Its Implications for Reform

如何確立合理的民間借貸利率規則，是中國社會一直未能解決的法律、經濟與政治問題，它困擾著中國法院對大量的民間借貸糾紛的司法裁判。對浙江省近年來的1421份判決書所進行的量化實證研究發現，我國目前適用的民間借貸利率不得超過銀行同類貸款利率的四倍這一規則同民間借貸的邏輯相悖，應當予以廢止。基於實證研究與已有文獻，立法者應當把大量判決書所展現的審判法官在裁定利率保護中的一些集體智慧納入到未來的規則重構中去，設立一種新的分類管制的民間借貸利率規則。

How to establish a reasonable interest rate rule for inter-personal lending has been a crucial but unresolved legal, economic, and political problem in China, which makes it troublesome for courts to adjudicate cases involving inter-personal lending. The current law regulating interest rates for impersonal lending in China is the so-called “four-time interest rate rule,”which means interest rates for impersonal lending can be higher than rates for lending from banks but shall not exceed four times of the latter. Based on a statistical analysis of 1,421 judicial cases adjudicated by courts in Zhejiang Province in recent years, this paper came to the conclusion that the current four-time interest rate rule is not appropriate for the development of informal finance in China and therefore shall be abolished. A new regulation substituting the current one is better to separate inter-personal lending into three groups and regulates different groups with different interest rate rules.