郑 观 徐 伟 熊秉元

(1.浙江大学 光华法学院， 浙江 杭州 310008； 2.宁波大学 法学院， 浙江 宁波 315211；3.浙江大学 经济学院， 浙江 杭州 310027)

为何民法要分物权和债权？

郑 观1徐 伟2熊秉元3

(1.浙江大学 光华法学院， 浙江 杭州 310008； 2.宁波大学 法学院， 浙江 宁波 315211；3.浙江大学 经济学院， 浙江 杭州 310027)

大陆法系国家的民法及其理论体系多建立在区分物权与债权的基础上。然而，为何立法和理论上会发展出物债二分？对于这个根本性的问题，学界至今未能提出完整的解释。目前的相关理论有道德哲学说、交易安全说、请求权说，都有各自的缺陷。从法外视角提出的“时间落差”说能有效解释此问题。在生活中，交易并非瞬间完成，往往存在时间差，这是民法区分物权和债权的根本原因。

民法； 物权； 债权； 时间落差； 交易成本； 实证式论述； 规范式论述

Specifically，in continental law countries the basic structure of transactions and contracts is a division into two distinct rights: real rights and creditor’s rights. Real rights are defined by physical units，whereas creditor’s rights are defined with respect to interpersonal relations or personal behavior. For instance，in the simple transaction of buying a newspaper，the buyer assumes real rights over the newspaper and the seller obtains creditor’s rights over the payment. Creditor’s rights are defined with respect to the creditor，but the same legal relationship can also be defined with respect to the debtor，in which case it is called the debtor’s obligations. In the example above，the buyer of the newspaper bears the debtor’s obligations over the payment. It is evident that creditor’s rights and debtor’s obligations are two sides of the same coin. In the following analysis，the term creditor’s rights are used in most of the discussion，but debtor’s obligations are used where warranted．

This inquiry is meaningful for several reasons. First，it hopes to provide an intuitive，straightforward，sound，and convincing answer to the question of why continental civil law developed this structure. The reasoning is based on the idea of letting ″the evidence speak for itself.″ Second，we use relevant materials from other social sciences to help illustrate the division，as insights from non-legal sources can shed light on legal issues. The major thrust of the analysis can be summarized as follows. The fundamental reason for continental civil law’s twin-right structure is that transactions are often associated with a time lag. If no time lag is involved，there are no enforcement problems and consequently there is no need to separate real rights and creditor’s rights (to deal with any enforcement problem).

When information is complete，a transaction is completed in a split second，as no searching or bargaining is needed; furthermore，there will be no enforcement problems. In other words，when transaction costs are zero，transactions are completed instantaneously and no enforcement problems will ensue，as the idea of ex post has been ruled out by definition. As there are no enforcement problems，no concepts are needed to deal with any possible transaction imperfections. This simply means that in a world of zero transaction costs，the ideas of real rights and creditor’s rights would never have been developed. The very reason why the twin concepts are needed is because we live in a world of positive transaction costs，where transactions are normally not completed in a split second and a certain portion of transactions inevitably result in enforcement problems. To deal with enforcement problems，the concepts of real rights and creditor’s rights have been developed in the continental law tradition．

In other words，if，and that is indeed a big if，transactions are all conducted in kind and a double coincidence occurs at each and every trade，then no money is needed. Similarly，if transactions are all completed instantaneously (i.e.，there are no enforcement problems) then there is no need to develop the concepts of real rights and creditor’s rights. Conversely，the mere existence of real rights and creditor’s rights suggests that certain interests in transactions have not been properly dealt with，and this in turn implies that a time lag exists between the point that such rights become relevant and the time that the (interests of) rights are properly realized or at least dealt with. Key words： civil law； real right； creditor’s right； time lag； transaction cost； positive analysis； normative analysis

一、 引 言

在大陆法系的民法里，物权和债权有着无比重要的地位。然而，为什么要有这两个概念呢？这个问题即使长年浸淫法学领域的民法专家都不见得能应付裕如。对于这个问题，本文将援用社会科学的相关智识以究其精微，希望能够追根究底、直捣鹄的，提出一针见血、老妪能解的说明。一言以蔽之，民法分为物权和债权主要是因为契约(买卖)往往涉及时间差。如果契约即时完成，则不会有践约的问题，也就不需要区分物权和债权这两个概念了。以下将从不同角度对此进行阐释。

二、 回顾： 传统智慧

(一) 外文文献论述

民法中的物债二权是大陆法系国家民法体系中的基础概念。……