外國法適用問題之研究：臺灣司法實務判決與比較法上的一些思考

A Study on the Application of Foreign law: Some Reflection on Taiwan Judical Practice Judgement and Comparative Law

我國成文法中，關於外國法之適用問題，僅有兩條直接相關之條文，就外國法之證明及外國法適用結果之例外排除，做原則性的規定，但對於外國法適用之其他問題，並未有明文。本文將所有關於外國法適用之問題，整理歸納為二。第一部分為外國法適用之原則，此部分包含適用外國法的基礎理由為何，適用外國法的範圍為何，以及適用外國法之法律效果為何等問題；第二部分則為外國法適用之例外，所涉及到的是公序良俗條款的運用，以及當事人意思得否排除外國法適用等問題。在判斷內國法官適用外國法的問題上，應認為其情形相當於內國法官對於「法理」的適用。內國法官應該是有目的的適用外國法，而非盲目的適用，因此本文認為參考各國立法例，將法院地法做為外國法之替代，於外國法內容不明的情況下，或當事人與法院證明外國法內容確實有困難，並且無法對於當事人之主張進行及時之判決時，並非不合理之法律適用方式。相對地，這種以法院地法做為輔助法規適用的方式，與內國民主體系下的民事法理相互一致，如此才能證成內國法官適用外國法具備合理性基礎，同時也遵守了一國之法律僅在其領域上具有效力的屬地主義基本原則。進一步地，從內國法律秩序的管控的觀點來看，內國最高法院不僅應對於準據法的選擇，檢視是否符合內國立法所制訂的衝突法規；並且，本文認為內國最高法院對於衝突法規所指引的準據法是否能夠達成個案具體正義，亦有指示之必要。此外，涉外案件中當事人是否得合意排除內國衝突法則之外國法適用指示，而選擇內國法或其他國家之法律代之？本文持肯定見解，並認為司法實務上或可考慮類推適用涉外民事法律適用法第31條之規定，以符私法自治、訴訟經濟之精神。

In Taiwan statute law, there are only two directly related provisions on the application of foreign law. The provisions are basic principles in the definition of foreign law and the exceptions to the application of foreign law. However, there are no other texts on the issues about how to apply foreign law. This article classify all the issues concerning the application of foreign law into two parts. The first part is the principle of the application of foreign law. This part contains some basic reasons for the application of foreign law, the scope and the legal effect of the application of foreign law. The second part is the exceptions of the application of foreign law, which involve the public order and the issue whether the parties could exclude the application of foreign law by the principle of party autonomy. The application of foreign law should be considered equivalent to the application of ''jurisprudence''. The judge should apply foreign law with purpose, not blindly. Therefore, this article considers that forum law is used as a substitute for foreign law with reference to comparative legislation. In the case where the content of foreign law is unknown, or when the parties and the court are hard to prove the content of foreign law, and it is impossible to make a timely judgment, the judge applies forum law instead of foreign law should not be considered as unreasonable . In contrast, this method of applying forum law as a supplementary law is consistent with the civil jurisprudence under democratic legal system, so that it can prove that the judge has a reasonable basis for applying foreign law which follows territoriality principles in the field of conflict of laws. Furthermore, from the point of view of domestic legal order control, the Supreme Court should not only examine the applicable law whether it complies with the rules of forum conflict of laws, but also need to instruct whether the applicable law can achieve justice in the individual case. In addition, in the civil cases involving foreign elements, does the parties could exclude the application of foreign law determined by the forum conflict of laws, instead, choosing the forum substantive law or the law of other countries ? This article holds a positive opinion and suggesting that Taiwan judges may apply by analogy Article 31 of Law Governing the Application of Laws to Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements in the spirit of private law autonomy and the principle of procedural economy.