無「法」的司法：晚清巴縣工商業合夥債務糾紛解決機制研究

Judicature Without Law: Dispute Settlement Mechanism of Paying off Partnerships’s Debts in Ba County in Late Qing Dynasty

在中國傳統社會，歷代王朝法典均從未有過對於合夥的直接規範，但民間工商領域中，已自生自發形成了一系列自己特有的包括合夥債務清償方式在內的慣例，並在與官府的互動中，發展出相應的一套糾紛解決機制。晚清巴縣工商業合夥的債務清償慣例為「按股份擔的無限責任」，並基本能得到官府明示或暗示的承認甚至維護，但在某些特殊情況情況下，官府也可能對慣例進行變通，使得這一「按股份擔的無限責任」帶有一定的「連帶性」。官府之外，同業行幫、移民會館、保甲等各種社會群體或組織，也在這一糾紛解決機制中發揮著極為重要的作用。

In traditional China, National Codes had never had any norms about partnership. However, in the field of folk industry and commerce, a series of customs including the practice of debt settlement as well as the dispute settlement mechanism formed spontaneously, in their own way. In Ba County in late Qing Dynasty, the mode of paying off partnerships’s debts was “unlimited liability shared by shares”, which could be accepted and protected by the government. Nevertheless, in some special cases, the government might also carry out modifications to change the mode into “unlimited liability shared by shares with a certain degree of joint resistance”. Besides the government, some social groups and organizations also played very important role in the dispute settlement mechanism.