CISG 제78조 이자규정의 통일적 해석에 관한 연구

김탁필 조선대학교 2008 국내석사

“국제물품매매계약에 관한 UN협약”(United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, 이하 "CISG" 또는 "유엔협약"으로 약함)이 1980년 제정이 되고, 1988년 가입국을 대상으로 발효가 된 후, 약 20년이 지났다. 우리나라는 2004년 2월 17일 동 협약의 가입 신청서를 UN 사무총장에게 寄託하여 체약 당사국이 되어, 2005년 3월 1일부터 유엔 협약은 우리나라에 대하여 효력을 발생하게 되었다. CISG는 나라와 나라 사이의 동산 물품매매에 있어서 계약의 성립, 매도인과 매수인의 권리와 의무, 매도인의 담보책임, 위험의 이전, 계약의 해제, 손해배상 등 국제 동산 물품거래에서 발생할 수 있는 많은 부분의 법률적인 이슈들을 규율하고 있으므로 동 협약의 가입국에 대하여 매우 중요한 의미를 지니고 있다. 우리와 가장 큰 交易 규모를 가지고 있는 미국과 중국 또한 동 협약의 가입국이고, 이미 동 협약은 우리의 實定法 질서 내에 들어와 있으므로 이에 대한 실체법적 연구의 필요성은 새삼 강조할 필요가 없다 하겠다. 그러나 국제사회에서는 CISG의 제정과 탄생을 보기위해 당사국들의 복잡한 이해관계가 얽혀있는 여러 쟁점에 관하여 법률적인 欠缺 또는 留保條項을 존치시킴으로써 동 협약은 태생적으로 통일이라고 칭하기 어려운 불완전한 통일매매법이 되고 말았다. 이러한 내재적인 한계를 보충하는 규범으로서 UNIDROIT 등의 원칙이 일반적으로 거론되기도 하지만, 이 협약이 발효되고 난 후, 60여개의 가입국들이 동 협약을 해석 및 적용하는 과정에서 나타난 여러 가지 문제점 및 自國 偏向的인 현상들로 인하여 국제매매법의 조화와 통일이라는 제정 목적의 의미는 다소 退色이 되었고, 일부에서는 동 협약이 統一賣買法으로서의 기능을 제대로 수행할 수 있겠는가에 대한 의구심마저 고개를 들게 되었다. 이러한 내재적인 한계와 자국 편향적 해석과 적용 등의 문제점들은 이 협약이 대륙법계 및 영미법계의 상호 異質的인 법문화를 조화 및 통일시키려고 한 점에서 기인하였다고 볼 수 있으나, 동 유엔 협약의 국제 법질서내의 安着은 향후 통일되지 않은 많은 국제거래 분야의 법질서 확립 및 통일에 큰 영향을 미치지 않을 수 없다는 점을 고려해 볼 때, 작금의 자국편향적 해석과 적용상의 문제점들을 동 협약의 내재적인 한계로만 인식하고 放置할 것이 아니라, 유엔 협약뿐만 아니라 향후 기타의 국제 법질서의 성공적인 미래를 위해 현재의 유엔협약의 규정과 그 제정 또는 입법취지에 반하지 않는 범위 내에서 법 해석론적인 측면에서 그 태생적 또는 내재적인 한계를 극복하려는 학계의 노력이 절실히 필요하다고 아니할 수 없다. 이 같은 측면에서 CISG 제78조상의 利子에 관한 이슈는 이질적인 법질서의 融化와 妥協을 보지 못하고 CISG의 대표적인 법률적 흠결로서 존치하게 된 조항 중의 하나로서 현재의 CISG 규정과 그 제정 목적에 따라 극복해야 할 내재적인 한계를 잘 보여주고 있다고 할 수 있다. 이에 따라 본 논문에서는 CISG의 국제법질서 내의 編入이래, 대륙법계와 영미법계의 각기 다른 Forum에서 동 규정을 해석하고 적용해 온 樣態와 동 협약의 입법적 沿革을 통해서 어떻게 CISG 제78조의 법률적 흠결(Legal Gap)이 존치하게 되었는가와 협상 당시의 당사국들의 이해관계를 살펴봄으로써, 동 협약의 적용과정에서 규정 본문과 제정목적의 틀 안에서 동 협약을 해석하고 적용하며 生來的인 한계를 극복하기 위해 우리가 지향하고 검토하여야 할 解釋論적인 방향에 대한 것을 논의하고자 한다. 첫 번째로, 예견가능성(foreseeability)과 법적 안정성의 측면에서 CISG 제7조 2항에서 제시하는 “일반원칙(general principle)"들을 CISG 제78조의 관련 규정본문과 제정목적을 고려하여 가능한 범위 내에서 發掘, 검토하여 이에 대한 해석론적 效用性을 검토하고자 한다. 두 번째로, 법률적 흠결의 補正 메커니즘 내에 CISG 제7조 제2항이 편입하고 있는 “국제사법규정(the rules of private international law)”에 관한 접근방안을 CISG의 立法 精神과 비교하여 검토하고자 한다. 세 번째로, CISG 제76조의 규정을 類推 해석하여 대륙법계 및 영미법계의 국가들이 모두 공감할만한 CISG 제78조의 보정(gap-filling) 방안을 도출해낼 수 있을 것인가에 관한 가능성을 검토해 보고자 한다. 마지막으로, 국제 물품거래에 관한 統一賣買法으로서의 역할을 위해 제정된 CISG의 地上 優位의 목적인 統一性의 원칙을 제고함으로써, CISG 제78조의 利子에 대한 이슈와 관련하여 “general principle"과 ”the rules of private international law" 그리고 기타 고려할만 한 제 3의 접근 방안을 통해 통일성의 원칙과 조화시킬 수 있는 解釋論的 接近方法에 대하여 논의해 보고자 한다.

신의성실의 원칙에 관한 기능주의적 해석 : 국제물품매매계약에 관한 유엔협약 제7조 신의 요건을 중심으로

김탁필 조선대학교 일반대학원 2018 국내박사

Every culture introduces the notion of good faith into the legislation dealing with one form or another of it. The functional importance of good faith in the national level is also reflected in CISG. CISG Article 7 adopted good faith doctrine which serves literally as an interpretative principle to the Convention. However, the compromise of different legal families and methodologies made the interpretation of its provisions uncertain and Article 7(1) particularly controversial thereby causing homeward interpretation and inconsistent case law among courts, tribunals and scholars. One of the contested issue is whether the principle of good faith may be applied directly to the rights and obligations of contracting parties. In this respect, the value of the comparative law method especially for Article 7 cannot be overestimated although it needs great caution because the solution for good faith issue in CISG must be acceptable in different legal systems with different legal traditions. Therefore this dissertation focuses on the functional equivalents of good faith embedded in CISG as a whole and try to approach functionally to the meaning and role of its own good faith based on the conclusion drawn by the comparative analysis on civil law and common law concept of good faith with some thoughts on the most fertile agents in the development of Roman contract law, 'bona fides'. The principle of good faith rooted in ancient Roman legal tradition and Greek philosophy is considered in most modern civil law systems, a general principle of contract and a central feature of the civil law traditions. Furthermore, some civil law systems has come to consider the notion of good faith as one of the most important legal principle of private law in general as well as contract law. Indeed, most civil codes prescribe the notion of good faith including the well-known German Civil Code Section 242 in which the concept has been regarded as an overriding legal principle as referenced in a vast body of cases and doctrines. The legal concept of good faith originated from Roman civil procedure where the trier of facts, so called iudex, were directed by a standard bona fides clause "quidquid...dare facere oportet ex fide bona" in the Praetor's formula. This standard bona fides clause was known as the exceptio doli and the purpose of the clause was to prevent the plaintiff from taking advantage of rigorous nature of actio stricti iuris. The instruction of the formula in iudicia bonae fidei directed the iudex to ascertain whether the plaintiff had done something in bad faith and the iudex had to determine based on equitable nature of bona fides. Therefore the meaning and role of good faith in Roman law was judicial and remedial one allowing the judge to decide the case in equitable and reasonable manner. In this respect, the functional nature of good faith derived from judicial principle of interpretation which deals with rights and obligations of the contracting parties. The functional nature of good faith is embedded in CISG Article 7 as well. The uniform law project of UNIDROIT for international sale of goods started in 1926. The resolution to develop a uniform international sales law was passed in 1978 and it resulted in CISG or 1980 Vienna Convention, the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, that took effect in 1988. The purpose of the Convention as stated in the Preamble is to "contribute to the removal of legal barriers in international trade and promote the development of international trade" through "the adoption of uniform rules which govern contracts for the international sale of goods" and taking into account the different social, economic and legal systems. Indeed, the Convention has provided unified framework of statute law to meet the legal needs of international trade or sales transactions and also provided a good mechanism for the courts and arbitration tribunals around the world to resolute trade disputes in an equitable manner. Today the Convention came to be considered and referred to as the most successful international treaty. However, the substantive contents of the Convention could only be adopted by compromise among different legal families, particularly between civil law countries and common law countries. The compromise has been necessary in the process of legislation to obtain widespread acceptance from participants with heterogenous legal culture and it made the Convention a great success while predecessors of it had been unsuccessful, ie the Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods and the Uniform Law on the Formation of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. On the other hand, these compromises made one of the weakness of the Convention. Especially the compromise of different legal families and methodologies made the interpretation of its provisions in general and Article 7(1) particularly controversial thereby causing homeward interpretation and inconsistent case law among courts, tribunals and scholars. Further, Article 7 adopted autonomous principle of interpretation to warrant its international character and to meet the need to promote uniformity in its application. Accordingly and paradoxically, the compromising legislative character together with the autonomous principle of interpretation has been causing serious legal uncertainty in the interpretation of good faith of Article 7. Article 7(1) states that "in the interpretation of this Convention, regard is to be had to its international character and to the need to promote uniformity in its application and the observance of good faith in international trade." Article 7 good faith serves as an interpretive principle but in the normative respect the role and meaning of good faith is by no means clearly deduced. Various issues arise in connection with the requirement to observe good faith in international trade when interpreting the Convention, such as whether the notion of good faith is different from the traditional civil law concept of good faith which has been received directly from the concept of bona fides under ancient Roman law, whether good faith obligations extends to the legal relationships of the contracting parties or whether it applies only to the interpretation of the Convention, what is the meaning of the standard of good faith, whether the contested issue falls on the legal gap of the Convention and if that is the case how to fill the gap of the Convention. The problem of the interpretation of good faith within the Convention varies. The competing national approaches to good faith aggravates the variety because the difference exist between legal families or legal systems and even within the same legal family and single legal system. Particularly civil law and common law scholars had different opinions in the drafting stage of the Convention with regard to the legal implications of good faith. Of course the civil law scholars were of the opinion that the good faith is universally and traditionally recognized legal concept in contract law as well as in private law. So there seemed little harm in including the principle of good faith in the draft Convention. Further, many national codes contained good faith provisions dealing with one form or another of it which played an important role in the development of rules regulating commercial activity. Rather, it was considered that the extension of this provision into an instrument regulating an aspect of international trade was so valuable that deletion would open the Commission to the criticism that it opposed such principle when it was well recognized in public international law as well as in international trade regime. On the other hand, the common law scholars were of the opinion that the concept of good faith is simply a matter of moral exhortation and inherently embedded in all legal instruments therefore antithetical to the spirit of legal certainty in commercial contract law. There was no need for them to include the ambiguous concept of good faith in the Convention. However, legal uncertainties of the Convention centering on Article 7 good faith are contrary to the purpose of the Convention as stated in the Preamble to remove the legal barriers in international trade and promote the development of international trade. Further, legal uncertainty in connection with the role and meaning of good faith aggravates legal barriers and hinders uniformity in its application as a whole because the good faith provision belongs to general provisions of the Convention which has significant influence and importance in interpreting the Convention. In this vein, it cannot be overstated that there is a significant scepticism in connection with the normative effect of the Convention as a governing law for contracting parties in international trade at least in interpretation and application of good faith in Article 7. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on the functional equivalents of good faith embedded in CISG as a whole and try to approach functionally to the meaning and role of its own good faith based on the conclusion drawn by the comparative analysis on civil law and common law concept of good faith with some thoughts on the most fertile agents in the development of Roman contract law, 'bona fides'. Finally, functional interpretation of good faith in CISG will point out that indirect application of the notion of good faith in the form of implied terms to the contract relations may be harmonized with strict perspectives on Article 7 and try to deduce an autonomous and internal solution for the meaning and role of the Convention's own good faith, reasonableness.