股份质押司空见惯。可最近跟一位JD讨论mortgage和charge的区别时,她告诉我share不能pledge。震惊之余,做了下研究,写了这篇文章。本文是纯法学向的,主要是提出问题。也请对这一问题有了解同学不吝赐教。
问题重现
鱼子酱:比如股份质押(因某问题提到)
JD:求豆麻袋,share不能pledge的
鱼子酱:纳尼....!
JD:应该是的,share是intangibles里面不能质押的那种。
鱼子酱:大陆股份只能质押,翻译中我也见到一些share pledge agreement啊。再研究下。
share不能pledge的逻辑
做了一些调研。普通法上,share确实不能pledge,逻辑如下:
因为:pledge需要转移占有;
因为:share的certificate无法完全代表share的占有;
所以:share无法通过交付certificate来设立质押。
普通法上的intangibles有documentary intangibles,如票据、仓单,还有general intangibles,如股份。
前者表彰权利的证书与权利合二为一,证书交付即权利交付。能交付自然能设立质押。
后者的证书只是权利的一种证明,权利不依赖于证书。所以无法通过交付证书交付权利,无法质押。
当然,早先的不记名股份share in bearer form 是可以质押的,但现在很少见了,一般都是registered share。
Registered share采取股份登记簿+股份证书的表现形式,权利以登记簿为准,股份证书只是次要形式。
为什么经常见到share pledge agreement?
老实说,这个问题我还没研究明白。
这里只列举几个share pledge的例子:
The shareholder may pledge his shares to secure a personal loan and the lender may seize those shares if the loan is not repaid
the shares held by this large shareholder, which had been pledged to the shareholder’s creditors, were seized by the latter and later sold in the market to a variety of new investors.
上面这两句话出自一本书Company Law nutshell ,讲的是爱尔兰法律。
For example, if the proxy appointment is given to someone to whom the stock has been pledged (for example, as collateral for a loan), it will be “coupled with an interest.”
这段出自美国著名的The Law of Corporations in a nutshell
就我目前了解,美国人似乎对share pledge的态度比较宽松,没有英国人那么死守普通法的逻辑。
有的美国人干脆承认,上面intangibles的区分不那么容易做到:
Accounts and general intangibles must therefore be distinguished from instruments, and that is not as simple as it sounds.
In many cases courts have struggled with the fuzzy distinction between “accounts” and “general intangibles,” which are not perfectible by possession, and “instruments,” which under the former Code were perfectible only by possession.
我国的股份质押
《担保法》第75条规定,股份、股票可以质押,属于“权利质押”。
第78条规定,股份质押要办理登记。
这就很奇怪了。我们知道,质押的本质是以占有作担保,如果没有占有的转移,那还算质押吗?
所以,不转移占有,通过登记就能实现的担保应该是抵押吧。
为什么《担保法》没把股份放在抵押之下?
share mortgage/charge
以前经常遇到share mortgage agreement,我在翻译时还特别贴心的转译成“股份质押”,以贴合中国法的概念体系。
现在看来倒有些可笑。人家用share mortgage,就是因为认定share不能pledge。
普通法上也认为,share不能pledge,但可以mortgage或charge。
( 观合法律翻译)