中國民法語境下“合同效力”的層次性

The Hierarchy of“Contract Effectiveness”in the Context of Chinese Civil Law

從《民法典》與《民法典合同編通則解釋》就行政審批對合同效力的影響、無權處分的法律後果等所作的規定看，“合同效力” 在我國民法上具有明顯的層次性。廣義的合同效力與廣義的合同拘束力屬同義語，是法律對當事人合意的認可和保護，其前提是合同具備有效要件，即“依法成立”。因此，合同無效與合同不成立並無實質區別。但是，為了準確描述合同已依法成立但未生效的法律狀態，我國民法有時是在狹義上使用合同拘束力的概念，並將其與狹義的合同效力概念區別開來：前者指當事人于合同依法成立後不得擅自撤銷或者解除合同，並不得違反誠信原則惡意阻止條件成就或消極對待報批義務；後者則指當事人一方得基於合同請求對方履行約定的義務，即履行效力。此外，由於我國民法上的買賣合同不僅包含當事人發生債權債務關係的意思，而且包含當事人移轉所有權的意思，因此，還應將買賣合同的效力進一步區分為履行效力與移轉效力。“合同效力”的此種層次性，既是現代交易階段化的必然產物，也是中國民法體系特色的重要表現。

From the provisions of the Civil Code and the Interpretation of the General Principles of Contract Compilation of the Civil Code on the impact of administrative approval on contract effectiveness and the legal consequences of unauthorized disposal, the“contract effectiveness”has a clear hierarchical nature in Chinese civil law. The broad validity of a contract and the broad binding force of a contract are synonymous, which are the recognition and protection of the parties' agreement by the law. The premise of a valid contract is“it is established in accordance with the law”. Therefore, there is no substantive difference between the invalidity of a contract and the non establishment of a contract. However, in order to accurately describe the legal status of a contract that has been legally established but has not yet taken effect, Chinese civil law sometimes uses the concept of contract binding force in a narrow sense and distinguishes it from the narrow concept of contract effectiveness: the former refers to the parties not revoking or terminating the contract without authorization after the contract is legally established, and not maliciously obstructing the achievement of conditions or passively treating the obligation of approval in violation of the principle of good faith; The latter refers to the fact that one party may request the other party to perform the agreed obligations based on the contract, that is, the effectiveness of performance. In addition, due to the fact that the sales contract in Chinese civil law not only includes the intention of the parties to establish a debt relationship, but also the intention of the parties to transfer ownership, the effectiveness of the sales contract should be further distinguished into performance effectiveness and transfer effectiveness. The hierarchical nature of contract effectiveness is not only an inevitable product of modern transaction stages, but also an important manifestation of the characteristics of Chinese civil law system.