打合約官司是否「捉字蝨」?

市民大眾常以為打官司是鬥捉字蝨。 確實,白紙黑字的合約,有各方簽署,合約條款的字面意思,就有法律效力,可約束雙方了。一紙合約,遠勝雙方千言萬語。

然而,有時候,合約條款字眼模糊不清。多年後起爭議,合約各方各自解讀,挑選最自己有有利的詮釋方法。 咁呢個時候點算?

當合約條款含糊時,法庭會嘗試代入角色,設想合約各方在簽署文件時,會如何合理地理解這些合約條款的意思。

換言之,詮釋合約條款時,香港法庭會採取客觀的詮釋方式。 使用客觀性詮釋方法時,法庭除了考慮條款的字面意思,也會考慮協議內的前文後理。

當合約條款模糊、顯得荒謬、或與協議的其他部分相矛盾時,法庭亦會考慮相關商業邏輯,而盡力詮釋協議各方簽署合約時的意願。

終審法院在RIVER TRADE TERMINAL CO LTD v. SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE – [2005] HKCU 378案中提及詮釋商業合約時,需要考慮到簽訂合約時,合約各方已知的客觀事實,以及這份合約背後的商業目的 (commercial purpose):

” It is of course well-established that in construing a commercial contract… the court is entitled to take into account the matrix of fact, meaning the objective surrounding circumstances, known to both parties, in which the agreement was made…

‘…In a commercial contract it is certainly right that the court should know the commercial purpose of the contract and this in turn presupposes knowledge of the genesis of the transaction, the background, the context, the market in which the parties are operating.’ “

在另一宗案件中 ( Jumbo King Ltd v Faithful Properties Ltd (1999) 2 HKCFAR 279 ),終審法院亦表明詮釋合約時,並不只針對個別字眼,因詮釋合約並非 「文字遊戲」。法庭會考慮全份協議的內容,以及簽署協議時的背景等,從而理解合約各方簽署協議時,意欲達致的商業目的。

” …The construction of a document is not a game with words. It is an attempt to discover what a reasonable person would have understood the parties to mean. And this involves having regard, not merely to the individual words they have used, but to the agreement as a whole, the factual and legal background against which it was concluded and the practical objects which it was intended to achieve.”

由此可見,法庭詮釋合約條款時,會考慮全盤因素,並非捉字蝨的文字遊戲。

大家可能會問,「咁咪白紙黑字寫左都唔算數?」 確實,詮釋合約條款時,在字面意思與雙方當時的商業目的之間,有時難免有衝突。在字裡行間與商業合作的背景之間,法官的工作就是要盡量準確地尋回當初大家的真正意思。

好的判詞能服眾,訴訟各方包括輸家都心悅誠服,亦經得起上訴的考驗,傳媒及市民的評論,還有法律學者對其法理邏輯的批判。

做法官,確實是絕不容易的工作。

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