年金改革與法律不溯既往原則──釋字第782號解釋評析

Pension Reform and the Principle of Non-Retroactivity of Laws: Comments on the J.Y. Interpretation No. 782

本件釋字第782號解釋為維護國家重大公益，引用不真正溯及既往理論，處理年金改革之法制合憲性問題，以確保退撫基金收支平衡，維護公共利益，用心良苦。然而其誤認國家給付退休金之法律上義務，屬於「恩給」性質（類似道德上給付），導致不承認退休公務員之法律上「財產權」之保障。又忽略法律作為人類「行為規範」之功能，就繼續性法律關係，原本基於人民之信賴保護，要求採取可分性之「分階段適用法律之原則」，以維持實體從舊原則，公平兼顧各方利益，卻反而捨本而逐末，過度不當擴張「不真正溯及既往理論」之適用範圍，以致於未能合理保障人民之信賴保護，而仍有改善餘地。

To maintain the country’s fundamental public interests, the J.Y. Interpretation No. 782 referred to the theory of inauthentic non-retroactivity to respond to the constitutionality of pension reform, ensuring the revenue and expenditure of pension fund are balanced. However, it falsely considered the government’s obligation of pension provision to be “benefits” (similarly to moral payments) and subsequently denied the legal protection of retired public servants’ property rights. It also ignored that the law serves as people’s “code of conduct”, failed to adopt the dividable “principle of periodical application of laws” based on people’s legitimate expectation to maintain the doctrine of observing old substantive laws and protect each party’s interests, and unjustly expanded the application scope of “inauthentic non-retroactivity”, leading to the inadequate protection of people’s legitimate expectation. Consequently, there’s still room for improvement.