《民法典》：中国集体林权制度改革的典范性准则

Civil Code: A Model Criterion for the Reform of Collective Forest Tenure System in China

改革开放后，中国集体林权制度改革经历了政策与法律交互演进的过程，集体林业发展取得了举世瞩目的成就。但同时，40年改革历程积累了因政策法律缺乏延续性与协调性引发的诸多问题，成为林权主体利益冲突的制度因素。这一现象反映了计划经济向市场经济转型期制度建设的特点，2014年党的十八届四中全会通过了《关于全面推进依法治国若干重大问题的决定》，提出社会主义市场经济本质上是法治经济，使市场在资源配置中起决定性作用和更好发挥政府作用，必须要完善市场经济法律制度，实现立法和改革决策相衔接，对不适应改革要求的法律法规，要及时修改和废止，促进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化。《民法典》的颁布与施行是这一转型的重大标志。《民法典》对改革开放以来制定的一系列民商事单行法律规范进行增减、完善与整合，具有典范性的制度位阶：任何政策与法律不得作出减损《民法典》规定的公民、法人和非法人组织权利或增加其义务的规定，出现与《民法典》冲突的规定时，应以《民法典》为准。

After the reform and opening up, the reform of China's collective forest rights system has experienced the process of interaction between policies and laws, and the development of collective forestry has achieved remarkable achievements. However, at the same time, the 40-year reform process has accumulated many problems caused by the lack of continuity and coordination of policies and laws, and has become an institutional factor in the conflict of interest of the main body of forest power. This phenomenon reflects the characteristics of institutional construction in the transition from a planned economy to a market economy. In 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Decision on Several Major Issues Concerning the Comprehensive Promotion of the Rule of Law, proposing that the socialist market economy is essentially an economy under the rule of law, so that the market plays a decisive role in resource allocation. To give full play to the role of the government, we must improve the legal system of the market economy, connect legislation with reform decision-making, revise and repeal laws and regulations that do not meet the requirements of reform in a timely manner, and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. The promulgation and implementation of the Civil Code is a major sign of this transformation. The Civil Code adds, subtracts and integrates a series of separate legal norms on civil and commercial affairs formulated since the reform and opening up. It has an exemplary institutional hierarchy: no policy or law shall make provisions that derogate from or increase the obligations of citizens, legal persons and unincorporated organizations as stipulated in the Civil Code. In case of conflict, the Civil Code shall prevail.

《民法典》共七编、1260条，总则、物权、合同等三编涉及集体林权界定、流转与保护，构成了集体林权基本法律规范体系。从2021年1月1日起，伴随着集体林权制度改革历程的《民法通则》《物权法》《担保法》《合同法》等法律将废止，今后的林业政策、林业立法以及政府行为不得与《民法典》冲突，对于与《民法典》规定和原则不一致的现行规定应该进行清理，未来得及清理的，在实践中以《民法典》为准则。

3The Civil Code has a total of seven and 1,260 articles. The general provisions, property rights, contracts and other three series involve the definition, circulation and protection of collective forest rights, which constitute the basic legal norms of collective forest rights. From January 1, 2021, the General Principles of the Civil Law, the Property Law, the Guarantee Law, the Contract Law and other laws accompanied by the reform of the collective forest rights system will be repealed. Future forestry policies, forestry legislation and government actions shall not conflict with the Civil Code. For those that are inconsistent with the provisions and principles of the Civil Code. The current provisions should be cleaned up. If it is too late to clean up in the future, the Civil Code shall be the guideline in practice.

一、《民法典》为集体林权界定与保护提供了典范性准则

First, the Civil Code provides exemplary criteria for the definition and protection of collective forest rights.

《民法典》将农村集体林地所有权的决策权、成员权、代理权分别授予农民集体、农户和农村集体经济组织，并赋予家庭承包集体林地完备的物权体系，对其他经营主体的经营权进行物权与债权区别性的法律保护。

The Civil Code grants the decision-making power, membership and agency rights of the ownership of rural collective forest land to farmers, farmers and rural collective economic organizations respectively, and gives families a complete real right system for contracting collective forest land, and legally protects the management rights of other business entities with the difference between real rights and creditor's rights.

《民法典》第二百六十一条规定集体林地“属于本集体成员集体所有”，并列举出包括土地承包方案在内的由集体成员决定的事项。这一规定在法理上属于总有性质，即决策权属于团体，使用权属于成员。也就是说，承包集体林地是农户作为集体成员的权利，因此，即使农户将承包的林地经营权流转给其他经营主体，承包权仍属农户。《民法典》进一步解决实践中因农村基层组织法律地位模糊导致的权责不清问题，规定农村集体经济组织依法取得法人资格（第九十九条），未设立村集体经济组织的、村民委员会可以依法代行村集体经济组织的职能（第一百零一条），农村集体经济组织或村民委员代表农民集体行使所有权（第二百六十二条）。即，农村集体经济组织或村民委员会是农民集体的法定代理人，其职责是保护农民集体及其成员的合法权益不受包括自身在内的侵害，因此，若农村集体经济组织、村民委员会或者其负责人作出的决定侵害集体成员合法权益的，受侵害的集体成员可以请求法院予以撤销（第二百六十五条）。

Article 261 of the Civil Code stipulates that collective forest land is "collectively owned by members of the collective", and lists matters decided by collective members, including land contracting schemes. This provision is of a general nature in jurisprudence, that is, the decision-making power belongs to the group and the use power belongs to the members. That is to say, contracting collective forest land is the right of farmers as members of collectives. Therefore, even if farmers transfer the contracted forest land management rights to other business entities, the contracting rights still belong to farmers. The Civil Code further solves the problem of unclear rights and responsibilities caused by the vague legal status of rural grassroots organizations in practice, and stipulates that rural collective economic organizations have obtained the status of legal persons in accordance with the law (Article 99), and villagers' committees that have not established village collective economic organizations can perform the functions of village collective economic organizations in accordance with the law (1001) Article), rural collective economic organizations or villagers' committees exercise ownership on behalf of farmers (Article 262). That is to say, rural collective economic organizations or villagers' committees are legal agents of peasant collectives. Their duties are to protect the legitimate rights and interests of peasant collectives and their members from infringement, including themselves. Therefore, if a decision made by rural collective economic organization, villagers's committee or its person in charge infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of the collective members, The aggrieved collective member may request the court to revoke it (Article 265).

《民法典》对家庭承包的林地经营权给予物权保护，即通过登记向世人宣告产权的唯一性（第二百一十六条）。在承包期内，农户既可以自主经营，也可以无需农村集体经济组织同意采取互换、转让、出租、入股或者其他方式向他人流转林地经营权（第三百三十四条、第三百三十九条），还可以在自己经营的同时以林地承包经营权抵押贷款（第三百九十五条和第三百九十九条），这些权利可以对抗包括发包人在内的任何人的干预：农村集体经济组织不得干涉林地承包经营权人行使权利（第三百二十六条），不得调整和收回承包地（第三百三十六条、第三百三十七条）。

The Civil Code protects the right to manage forest land contracted by the family, that is, to declare the uniqueness of the property right to the world through registration (Article 216). During the contract period, farmers can not only operate independently, but also transfer the right to manage forest land to others by interchange, transferring, renting shares or other means without the consent of rural collective economic organizations (Articles 334 and 329), and can also mortgage the right of forest land contract management while operating by themselves. Paragraphs (Articles 395 and 399) These rights may be subject to the intervention of any person, including the contractor: rural collective economic organizations shall not interfere with the exercise of the rights of the forest land contractor (Article 326) and shall not adjust and recover the contracted land (Articles 336, 330 Article 7).

其他经营主体通过以下途径取得集体林地的经营权：一是承包农村集体经济组织通过招标、拍卖、公开协商等方式发包的集体林地。对此类林地经营权，《民法典》采取选择性物权保护，即可以申请物权登记，取得权属证书的，可以采取出租、入股等方式再次流转林地经营权（第三百四十二条），没有申请物权登记的，则按照流转合同约定进行债权保护。二是以互换、转让、出租、入股等方式取得家庭承包林地的经营权。互换与转让的法律性质属于买断某块宗地整个承包期的林地经营权，当事人可以申请物权登记（第三百三十五条）；采取出租、入股等方式流转的林地经营权一般属于债权（第三百三十九条），流转期限为五年以上的，可以申请物权登记（第三百四十一条），其法理依据是长期合同相当于产权转移，以五年为界主要考虑的是耕地经营，由于林地经营的长期性，这一规定对林地的适用性还需要在实践中进一步检验。

Other business entities obtain the management rights of collective forest land through the following channels: First, contract collective forest land contracted by rural collective economic organizations through bidding, auction, public consultation, etc. For such forest land management rights, the Civil Code adopts selective property rights protection, that is, if you can apply for real right registration and obtain a ownership certificate, the forest land management right can be recirculated by means of lease and shareholding (Article 342). If there is no application for real right registration, the creditor's right shall be protected in accordance with the provisions of the circulation contract. Second, obtain the management right of family contracted forest land by means of interchange, transfer, lease and shareholding. The legal nature of the exchange and transfer belongs to the forest land management right to buy out a piece of land for the whole contract period, and the parties may apply for real right registration (Article 335); the forest land management rights circulated by means of lease and shareholding generally belong to creditor's rights (Article 329). If the circulation period is more than five years, they can apply. The legal basis for real right registration (Article 340) is that a long-term contract is equivalent to the transfer of property rights. The five-year boundary is mainly considered for the operation of cultivated land. Due to the long-term nature of forest land management, the applicability of this provision to forest land needs to be further tested in practice.

二、《民法典》为集体林权流转与保护提供了典范性准则

Second, the Civil Code provides exemplary criteria for the transfer and protection of collective forest rights.

首先，《民法典》为集体林权流转合同是否有效提供了法律依据与救济途径。实践中，集体林权流转大多采取示范合同，且大部分是格式条款。按照《民法典》规定，提供示范合同的地方政府及其部门应采取合理的方式提示对流转双方有重大利害关系的条款并予以说明（第四百九十六条），如果格式条款与非格式条款不一致的，应该采用非格式条款（第四百九十八条）。合同存在不合理地免除或者减轻一方责任、加重另一方责任或排除、限制另一方主要权利的条款，不具有法律效力（第四百九十七条）。此外，集体经济组织或村民委员会在没有经三分之二以上村民大会成员或村民代表同意将集体林地流转给其他经营主体，属于超越权限订立的合同，无效（第五百零四条）；流转价格或经营收益存在重大误解或显示公平时，受损害方有权请求法院或者仲裁机构予以撤销（第一百四十七条、第一百五十一条）。

First of all, the Civil Code provides legal basis and relief channels for the validity of collective forest right transfer contracts. In practice, collective forest right transfer mostly adopts model contracts, and most of them are standard clauses. According to the provisions of the Civil Code, the local government and its departments that provide the model contract shall take reasonable measures to prompt and explain the clauses that have a significant interest in both parties to the circulation (Article 496). If the standard clauses are inconsistent with the non-standard clauses, the non-standard clauses shall be adopted (Article 498). Clauses in the contract that unreasonably exempt or reduce the responsibilities of one party, increase the responsibilities of the other party, or exclude or restrict the main rights of the other party have no legal effect (Article 497). In addition, collective economic organizations or villagers' committees that transfer collective forest land to other business entities without the consent of more than two-thirds of the members of the villagers' assembly or villagers' representatives are contracts concluded beyond their authority and are invalid (Article 504); When there is a major misunderstanding or fairness in the circulation price or operating income, the injured party has the right to request the court or arbitration institution to revoke it (Articles 147 and 151).

其次，《民法典》为有效合同的切实履行提供了法律依据与救济途径。林权流转实践中，将林地整个承包期经营权流转给他人的现象不多，更普遍的是将部分承包期经营权流转给他人，其法律性质属于租赁。在林权租赁合同履行中，非合同方主张林地产权、承租方不支付价款等现象时而发生。非合同方主张林地产权往往是由不同时期的权属证书以及林权证发放粗放造成的，理论上可以通过司法途径解决，但考虑司法成本，承租方有时会选择支付非合同方租金的方式息事宁人。对此，《民法典》提供了更多的救济途径：因第三人主张权利，致使承租人不能对租赁物使用、收益的，承租人可以请求减少租金或者不支付租金（第七百二十三条），在出租方未能提供适当担保时中止支付租金（第六百一十四条）。承租方未能按期支付价款的，出租方可以进行催告，在合理期内内承租方仍未支付租金的，出租方可以解除合同，收回林地承包经营权（第六百三十四条、第六百四十二条）。

Secondly, the Civil Code provides legal basis and relief channels for the effective performance of valid contracts. In the practice of forest right transfer, there is not much phenomenon of transferring the right to operate forest land during the whole contract period to others. More commonly, part of the right to operate during the contract period is transferred to others, and its legal nature belongs to lease. In the performance of forest right lease contract, non-contracting parties claim forest land property rights and lessees do not pay the price from time to time. Non-contracting parties claim that forest land property rights are often caused by the extensive issuance of ownership certificates and forest warrants in different periods, which can be solved theoretically through judicial means. However, considering the judicial cost, the lessee sometimes chooses to pay the rent of non-contracting parties to settle the matter. In this regard, the Civil Code provides more relief channels: if the lessee cannot use or benefit from the leased property due to the claim of a third party, the lessee may request a reduction in rent or not to pay rent (Article 723) and suspend the payment of rent when the lessor fails to provide appropriate guarantee (Article 614). If the lessee fails to pay the price on schedule, the lessor may make a reminder. If the lessee still fails to pay the rent within a reasonable period of time, the lessor may terminate the contract and recover the right to contracted management of forest land (Articles 634 and 642).

综上所述，《民法典》为健全集体林权制度体系提供了典范性法律依据，而且，2008年开始在全国推进的集体林权主体改革符合《民法典》关于集体林地所有权和林地承包经营权的规定，以流转、抵押、合作为内容的配套改革实为承包权与经营权分离，走在耕地三权分置改革之前。今后，集体林权制度改革应进一步落实《民法典》立法精神，为集体林业持续健康发展提供良好的制度环境。（作者张红霄系南京林业大学生态文明与乡村振兴研究中心主任、教授、博士生导师）

In summary, The Civil Code provides the exemplary legal basis for perfecting the collective forest right system, Moreover, the reform of the main body of collective forest rights, which began to be promoted nationwide in 2008, conforms to the provisions of the Civil Code on the ownership of collective forest land and the contractual management right of forest land. The supporting reform with the contents of circulation, mortgage and cooperation is actually the separation of the contractual right and the management right, ahead of the reform of the separation of the three rights of cultivated land. In the future, the reform of collective forest right system should further implement the legislative spirit of the Civil Code to provide a good institutional environment for the sustainable and healthy development of collective forestry. (The author Zhang Hongxiao is director, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Research Center for Ecological Civilization and Rural Revitalization of Nanjing Forestry University)