Relationship between the Settlement Agreement and the Original Contract
In China,relevant laws and judicial interpretations have always attached great importance to settlement agreements and confirmed them in law.Settlements include liti-gation settlement and non-litigation settlement.Litigation settlement can have a dual effect in both substantive law and procedural law,while non-litigation settlement,as a purely civil law settlement,only produces a substantive law effect and has the binding force of a contract.The purpose of a settlement agreement is to address the uncertainty of the original contractual rela-tionship,such as the existence of rights,the content,and the realization of the contract.This is also the key difference between settlement agreement and similar systems.The relationship be-tween settlement agreement and original contract mainly manifests itself as substitution relation-ship and coexistence relationship.Usually,the parties agree in the settlement agreement that the creditor accepts the performance promise of the debtor or a third party as the repayment of the original debt.Although there are substantial changes in the contractual relationship,the tra-ditional theory of debt renewal in civil law cannot be fully applied to explain the relationship be-tween the original contract and the settlement agreement.This is because the purpose of a set-tlement agreement is to overcome the uncertainty of the original contract,thereby resolving dis-putes and avoiding litigation.Although a settlement agreement may change the original contrac-tual relationship,it will not lead to the termination of the original contract,while the renewal of the debt is aimed at eliminating the original relationship.At this point,the coming into effect of the settlement agreement does not create a debt of choice,and creditors cannot claim dual rights based on the two contractual relationships.The parties should prioritize the performance of the settlement agreement.The failure or inability to fulfill the settlement agreement will lead to the"revival"of the original contract.This is conducive to preventing debtors from abusing settle-ment agreements and damaging the interests of creditors.If one party breaches the settlement agreement and gives the other party the right to choose,the non-performance of the settlement a-greement should not result in double liability for breach.After the creditor makes the choice,the debtor's performance will lead to the termination of the old and new contractual relation-ships between the parties.In conclusion,once a settlement agreement is reached,it should be given priority in application.Only in cases where performance cannot be achieved or the debtor fails to perform will it lead to the"resurrection"of the original contractual relationship.Credi-tors have the right to seek relief based on the settlement agreement or the original contract.Only in this way can the role of settlement agreement be maximized in resolving disputes and optimi-zing the governance of litigation sources.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
