法人格否認與債權人保護-以揭穿公司面紗原則為中心

Disregarding the Corporate Entity and Creditor Protection -Focused on the Doctrine of Piercing the Corporate Veil

林奕辰(I-Chen Lin)

指導教授 ： 張心悌

國立臺北大學/法律學院/法律學系/碩士(2013年)

摘要

公司法人格獨立原則與有限責任原則，向為現代公司法之核心價值，蓋其具有促進大眾投資以活絡經濟發展的優點。然而，此種促進經濟效率的制度亦可能遭到濫用，公司股東可以輕易地將公司陷於清償不能的風險外部化，轉嫁由公司債權人承受，此時是否仍應恪遵法人格獨立原則與有限責任原則，即遭受強烈的質疑。因此，為了矯治濫用而生之弊端，否認公司獨立法人格而排除有限責任之相關理論應運而生，其中最為重要的，當屬美國法上的「揭穿公司面紗原則」。

本文以美國法上的揭穿公司面紗原則為探討之基礎，概述其理論之本質、類型化之要件與實證統計之結果，以瞭解揭穿公司面紗原則在美國發展之情形，其適用範圍、所遭遇的困難為何等等，做為我國之借鏡。除此之外，本文亦將美國法上「反向揭穿公司面紗原則」、「衡平居次原則」、「企業責任理論」、「實質合併原則」一併納入討論之範疇，蓋此等理論之目的，亦均同為矯治公司法人格獨立原則和有限責任原則遭到濫用而生之弊端。

我國實務態度向來保守，多以「法未明文」為由而拒絕適用揭穿公司面紗原則；惟2013年1月14日立法院通過之公司法第154條修正條文，明文引進揭穿公司面紗原則，這對公司債權人之保護而言，當係一大進步。但美中不足的是，不僅該條之文義與體例均有所闕漏，揭穿公司面紗原則如何與公司法中實質董事的規定及關係企業章節調和適用，亦為一大挑戰；再者，是否因為揭穿公司面紗原則的明文化，反而壓縮反向揭穿公司面紗原則適用之可能，亦值得關注。最後，本文探討了「代理法律關係」、「企業責任理論」與「擬制信託」作為替代方案之可能，並提出相關建議以供參考。

關鍵字

法人格獨立 ； 法人格否認 ； 有限責任 ； 資產分割 ； 揭穿公司面紗 ； 反向揭穿公司面紗 ； 衡平居次原則 ； 企業責任理論 ； 實質合併原則 ； 實質董事 ； 擬制信託

並列摘要

Due to the advantages of encouraging private investment and promoting economic development, the corporate entity doctrine and the limited liability principle have become the core value of modern corporate law. However, these principles may be abused. If a corporation’s assets cannot afford its debts, shareholders can easily externalize the insolvency risk to its creditors. Thus, whether these principles should be applied in any case has been called in question. In order to correct the practice of abusing, theories about disregarding the corporate entity come with the tide. Among these theories, the most important one is “the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil” in the United States.

This thesis takes “the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil” in the United States as the base, introducing its nature, classified factors, and empirical study of piercing rate, and tries to find out its status of development, range of application , and confronted difficulties. In addition, this thesis also takes relevant theories into discussion, such as ” reverse piercing of the corporate veil”, ”equitable subordination doctrine”, ” enterprise liability theory” and ” substantive consolidation doctrine”, on account of these theories’ goals are also trying to correct and avoid the practice of abusing.

Most judges in Taiwan usually refuse to apply the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil in excuse of the doctrine does not be enacted in Taiwan’s Company Act all the time. On January 14, 2013, however, the amendment of Article 154 of the Company Act was approved by the Legislative Yuan. This can be regarded as a huge progress in creditor protection. Nevertheless, there are still some deficiencies of the amendment. How to deal with the relations between the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil and “de facto director and shadow director” and “affiliated enterprise” in the Company Act is another challenge in the future. Besides, since the doctrine of piercing the corporate veil has been enacted in company law, it is worth to observe that whether the possibility of applying the reverse piercing doctrine has been reduced accordingly. At last, this thesis also discusses possible alternatives, such as agency theory, enterprise liability and constructive trust, and makes some suggestions for reference.

並列關鍵字

the corporate entity doctrine ； disregarding the corporate entity ； limited liability ； assets partition ； piercing the corporate veil ； reverse piercing of the corporate veil ； equitable subordination ； enterprise liability ； substantive consolidation ； de facto director ； shadow director ； constructive trust

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