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Penalty for Breach of Contracts in China
If the stipulated penalty for breach of contract is excessively higher than the loss caused by the breach, the party concerned may apply to a people's court or an arbitration institution for an appropriate reduction.
 (Author: Jennifer Jiang, Chief Attorney of Bilingual Lawyers)

1.      
Contract Law of the PRC (Order No.15 of the President of the PRC(合同法)

Article 114    The parties may stipulate that in case of breach of contract by either party a certain amount of penalty shall be paid to the other party according to the seriousness of the breach, and may also stipulate the method for calculating the sum of compensation for losses caused by the breach of contract.
If the stipulated penalty for breach of contract is lower than the loss caused by the breach, the party concerned may apply to a people's court or an arbitration institution for an increase. If the stipulated penalty for breach of contract is excessively higher than the loss caused by the breach, the party concerned may apply to a people's court or an arbitration institution for an appropriate reduction.

2.       Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Certain Issues Concerning the Application of the Contract Law  of the PRC (Fa Shi [2009] No. 5)()(最高人民法院关于适用《中华人民共和国合同法》若干问题的解释(二))

 Article 29    Where a party alleges that the agreed amount of liquidated damages is excessively high and requests an appropriate reduction thereof, the people's court shall, according to the principles of equity and good faith, take a measurement and render a decision on the basis of actual losses and by taking into consideration such comprehensive factors as the performance of contract, fault of the parties concerned and anticipated profits.

Where the amount of the liquidated damages agreed upon by the parties concerned exceeds 30 percent of the losses incurred, it may be generally deemed as "excessively higher than the loss caused by the breach" specified in Paragraph 2 of Article 114 of the Contract Law.

3.       Notice of the Supreme People's Court on Printing and Circulating the Guiding Opinions on the Trial of the Cases Involving Disputes Arising from Civil and Commercial Contracts in the Current Situations (Fa Fa [2009] No. 40) (最高人民法院关于当前形势下审理民商事合同纠纷案件若干问题的指导意见)

Article 8   In order to alleviate judicial proceeding of the parties concerned and resolve disputes over liquidated damages properly, if the breaching party carries out the exceptio liberatoria rather than requests the adjustment of liquidated damages on the grounds that the contract is not established, ineffective or invalid or no breach occurs, the people's courts shall interpret whether the parties concerned desire to assert that liquidated damages are excessively high. The people's courts shall allocate the burden of proof properly, the breaching party shall assume the burden of proof for the assertion that the liquidated damages are overcharged, and the non-breaching party which asserts that the liquidated damages are reasonable shall provide the related evidence as well. ……

法律之间冲突时的效力原则


正式的法的渊源的效力有时也被称为法律效力等级,或法律效力位阶。宪法(或根本法)属于第一层次,而民法、刑法、行政法、诉讼等基本法律属于第二层次,基本法律之下还可能有第三和第四层次的法律等等。不同位阶的法的渊源之间的冲突原则包括宪法至上原则、法律高于法规原则、法规高于规章原则、行政法规高于地方性法规原则等。


同一位阶的法的渊源之间的冲突原则,主要包括:(1)全国性法律优先原则。(2)特别法优先原则。(3)后法优先或新法优先原则。(4)实体法优先原则。(5)国际法优先原则。(6)省、自治区的人民政府制定的规章的效力高于本行政区域内的较大的市的人民政府制定的规章。


位阶出现交叉时的法的渊源之间的冲突原则,我国《立法法》主要规定:(1)自治条例和单行条例依法对法律、行政法规、地方性法规作变通规定的,在本自治地方适用自治条例和单行条例的规定。(2)经济特区法规根据授权对法律、行政法规、地方性法规作变通规定的,在本经济特区适用经济特区法规的规定。(3)地方性法规、规章之间不一致时,由有关机关依照各自的权限作出裁决。



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