從灤州公司1910 年煤炭購銷合同看貿(mào)易規(guī)章之健全

■孟元濤

在翻閱檔案卷號為2018-347的英文歷史檔案時，發(fā)現(xiàn)了1910 年灤州公司與代理人關于訂立煤炭銷售合同的草擬范本（On the perfection of trade regulations from the coal purchase and sale contract of luanzhou company in 1910 全英文版），經(jīng)過全面細致的翻譯后，筆者發(fā)現(xiàn)110 年前的商業(yè)法律條款之完備，貿(mào)易規(guī)章之健全令人嘆為觀止。原件如圖：

圖1 合同第一頁

圖2 合同第二頁

合同的原文是：

Agreement, made on the day of one thousand ninehundred and ten( the day of the year S.T.) between the LANCHOW MINING CO.Ltd,( hereinafter called the”Company ”and hereinafter called the Agents )of the other part, whereby it is mutually agreed as follows:

1) The Company hereby appoint, the Agents as the Agents of the Company at,and the Agents undertake to act during the curreney of this agreement as such agents on and subject to the conditions hereinafter containded:

2) The Agents shall with the aera of their Ageney

a) make sales from stock or ex ship and or

b) secure and book orders for delivery or shipment for the Company and use their best endeavours to promote the companies intereats.

3) The Agents shall not sell under the prices, given them from time to time by the company.

4) The Agents shall send all orders or recommendations for consign-ments to the headoffices of the company at Tientsin, who will fullfillthem directly.But the Company shall have the right without prejudice to the continuing guarantee by the Agents in respect of a11 business introduced by them in accordance with the provisions of the sixth clause here of to ask, that adequate security be given by purchasers for the due fullfillment of their contracts in the event of any purchasers not beeing well kmown to them or if in the opinion of the company desirable on other grounds,provided always that the existence of this right shall in no case be construed by the Agents as an obligation on the part of the company to call for such security as aforesaid.

5)A stock in accordance with the Agents requisition shall always be layed dowm free of charge by the Company and kept by the Agents for account of the Company at for sale.Special accounts as mentioned below under clause 9, are to be kept for all shipments and all sales with prices are to be recorded therein immediately after each sa1e，F(xiàn)reight and Marine insurance to port of destination are to be paid by the Company.All customs Dueswharfage,Landing, soring and Insurance-Charges at local rates areto be paid by the Agents on behalf of the Company and to be debited to thetr Companys account with the Bank.

6)The Agents shall be responsible for all payments of goods sold through them up to the full velue.

7) All paymentes, collected by the Agents on behalf of the Company for goods sold from stock against cash of amounts received from pur-chasers for goods, sold on credit or otherwise received on behalf of the Company special account with the.Bank on the date of recand the bank'B special receipt shall be sent by the Agents to the Companies headquarters.- All expences on behalf of the company and Agents commission shall be debited to the same account.

8)All payments for goods sold shall be collected by the Agents for the company not later than a months time from date of delivery and if payment cannot be collected within that time, the Agents shall be responsible according to clause 6.

9) The Agents shall send the following regular reports to the company at the end of every month:

a)statement of movement of stock in hand, showing amount of stock carried forward from previous monthe and landed weights of arrivals during the month,giving namens of carrying steamers,and showing aswell diliveries from stock and exsteamer.

b) statement of sales from stock and exsteamer,showing purchaser's name,quantities and prices.

c) statement of money,collected on behalf of the company and also statement of money,expengded on behalf of the company.

d) statement of accounts outstanding with names of debitors and quantity and price aswell as the date,when the amount falls due for collection.

10) After arrival of each shipment a statement of the landed weight shall be sent to the company and this quanty,received by the Agent,shall be considered as the consignment.

11) The Agents shall receive 2% commission on the value of goods,sold by them and 2% commission on all contracts,made by the company direct and handled or delivered or collected by the Agents.

12) No Commission shall be payable until payments for delivery of goods have been received by the Agents from the purchasers and the proceeds credited to the Company's account.

13) In consideration of the commnission as stated,the Agents shall pay their general expences， telegrams,postages, advertisment, tra-veiling and all other expences arrising in connection with the business.

14) This agreement is entered into by both parties for a period of three years from the date hereof, after which period it shall be ter-minated.If the parties are willing to renew the contract, the ne-cessary arrangements are to be made three months before termination of this contract.The company shall have the right, to cancel this contract after one year for such place, where the Agents or theirbranch office should not work to satisfaction, but notice must be given half year in advance.

15) The Company agree ,to constitute,their sole Agents in ,and the Agents undertake, not to deal in any othercoals, excepting those of the Company.

16)The Agents promise to engage &/or charter the necessary tonnage on behalf and for account of the company at cheapest rates possible and **** quickest possible.-A specia contract will be made with the Tientsin branch office of the Agents to that effect.

17)The company reserves the right to make arrangements with a Bank to draw drafts against their consignments and the Agents shall accept such drafts for account and on behalf of the company and be free from the Companies obligations against the bank.

代理合同譯文如下：

灤州礦業(yè)有限公司（以下簡稱“公司”）與某某代理人，擬定于1910 年簽訂的煤炭購銷代理協(xié)議，雙方約定如下：

1）本公司特此任命，某某代理人作為本公司煤炭購銷代理人，代理人承諾在本協(xié)議有效期內(nèi)，嚴格履行以下條件：

2）履約期內(nèi)，代理人應時刻牢記代理身份履行合同。

a）根據(jù)庫存或船運情況進行煤炭銷售。

b）確保已預訂的訂單及時交貨、裝運，并盡最大努力加強上下溝通。

3）代理人不得在公司供貨價格之下進行出售。

4）代理人應將所有委托訂單或建議，發(fā)送至天津公司總部，并由天津公司總部確認。但公司有權在不損害代理人在本協(xié)議第6 條規(guī)定的擔保情況下，要求買方提供足夠多的擔保金，以便在任何一個買方出現(xiàn)問題的情況下，仍然可以履行其合同，同時將該協(xié)議內(nèi)容事前告知買方。該內(nèi)容為強制協(xié)議，任何情況下，代理人不得將此權利解釋為擔保義務，而是擔保責任。

5）根據(jù)代理人的要求，公司應始終免費為代理人存放其股票，并替代理人代為保管，以方便股票出售。本協(xié)議第9 條所述的特別賬戶，應記錄與所裝運貨物相符合的價值，所有銷售過程和價格應在每次交易之后，立即記錄到賬戶。運費和海運保險費等費用，需到目的港后，由公司支付。所有按當?shù)刭M率收取的運費、卸貨費、分揀費和保險費均由代理人所在公司支付，并通過灤州公司在銀行所開的賬戶交易。

6）代理商銷售貨物完成后，應將銷售所得的貨款全部交給灤州公司。

7）由代理人出售貨物所得款項，應與采購價格相對比，記錄好差額，允許代理商以賒銷或以其他方式代公司在銀行開立的特別賬戶收款。代理人應告知銀行將特別收據(jù)寄送至天津公司總部。代表公司的所有支出費用和代理傭金應記入銀行同一賬戶的借方一欄。

8）所有已售貨物的應付款項,應由代理人在不遲于交貨之日起的一個月內(nèi)為公司收取，如果在該時間內(nèi)無法收取貨款，代理人應根據(jù)第6 條執(zhí)行。

9）代理人應在每月月底向公司發(fā)送下列定期報告：

a）庫存變動表，顯示從上個月結(jié)轉(zhuǎn)的庫存量和當月到達的到岸貨物重量，寫出運輸船的名稱、庫存、出口貨物船舶所載貨物清單。

b）庫存和出口貨物銷售報表，必須顯示買方名稱、數(shù)量和價格。

c）代表公司收到的對賬單，以及代表公司支付的對賬單。

d）有借方名稱、數(shù)量和價格以及到期收款日期的未清帳目報表。

10）每批貨物到達后，應向公司發(fā)送一份卸貨貨物重量表，代理人收到的這批貨物應視為已經(jīng)安全收到的貨物。

11）代理人應獲得由其銷售的貨物價值的2%作為其傭金，以及由公司直接制定、由代理人處理、交付或收取的所有合同的2%作為其傭金。

12）在代理人收到買方交付貨物的款項和記入公司賬戶的款項之前，不得支付傭金。

13）考慮到上述約定，代理人應支付一般費用包括電報、郵資、廣告費、運輸費和與業(yè)務有關的所有其他費用。

14）本協(xié)議由雙方簽訂，有效期為三年，自本協(xié)議簽訂之日起計算。如果雙方愿意續(xù)簽合同，則應在本合同終止前三個月作出必要的安排。公司有權在代理商或其分支機構不能圓滿完成工作的地方，在一年后取消本合同。但必須提前半年通知代理人。

15）本公司同意由***和***組成獨家代理商，且代理商必須承諾不經(jīng)營我公司以外的其他任何煤炭生意。

16）代理商承諾以盡可能低的價格和最快的速度，代表公司和為公司租用或購買必要的船舶運輸所需噸位。為此，將與代理商負責船運的下屬天津分公司簽訂特別合同。

（說明此時已經(jīng)明確代理商人選，并明確知道其下屬擁有船員公司。）

17）本公司保留與銀行對其委托物開具匯票的權利，代理人應代表本公司接受該匯票，并免除本公司對銀行的義務。

經(jīng)過深入探究，筆者提煉出一些歷史信息：

圖3 清政府發(fā)給灤州公司的采礦執(zhí)照

一是110 年前商業(yè)法律條款之完備，貿(mào)易規(guī)章之健全令人嘆為觀止。1910 年商業(yè)代理合同的法律內(nèi)容與現(xiàn)在最新頒布的《中華人民共和國民法典》和《國際貿(mào)易法》中關于商業(yè)代理的法律規(guī)定有許多類似之處，說明1910 年的灤州公司英籍高級管理人員十分熟知法律知識和法律條款，且法律維權意識強烈，管理思維之縝密令人贊嘆。

二是煤炭在110 年前屬于稀缺資源，煤炭實業(yè)公司社會地位較高。通過17 項條款的嚴格約束和合同中的嚴厲措辭，可以看出在合同簽訂過程中，灤州公司占有主導地位。說明當時的煤炭開采并不廣泛，煤炭在110 年前的中國屬于稀缺資源，掌握煤炭資源的公司屬于行業(yè)翹楚，擁有談判話語權。

圖5 灤州公司下屬的馬家溝礦

三是銀行業(yè)和銀行支付轉(zhuǎn)賬在110 年前的華北地區(qū)，已經(jīng)蔚然成風。鑒于合同中提到的煤炭銷售應收貨款和其他雜費，可以通過灤州公司在銀行開設的賬戶交易，可知1910 年的銀行業(yè)務除了在富庶的江浙、廣東一帶流行之外，在華北地區(qū)同樣擁有完備的銀行收支體系。

四是110 年前的煤炭實業(yè)公司單純專注于煤炭單一生產(chǎn)，尚未發(fā)展煤炭上下游產(chǎn)業(yè)鏈。通過合同內(nèi)容可以看出，1910 年的灤州公司只負責煤炭生產(chǎn)，沒有下設銷售分公司，煤炭的銷售只能依靠代理人來完成。合同中提到的代理人實為中方買辦。

買辦原意是采買人員，指清朝末期的1800年-1910 年，受雇于外商并協(xié)助其在中國進行貿(mào)易活動的中間人、經(jīng)理人。買辦是外國資本家認為忠實、得力的人物。買辦為外國資本家服務，受到外國資本家的“培育”。買辦違法犯罪，因受雇于外商企業(yè)，可以在治外法權庇護下，逃避中國法律的制裁。[1]

這類被外商雇用之商人通常外語能力強，一方面可作為歐美商人與中國商人的翻譯，也可處理歐美國家商界與中國政府之雙向溝通。除此之外，這類型商人還可自營商鋪，因此致富者頗眾。[2]買辦一職，中國人不得隨便充當，外商亦不能任意選雇，受到清政府的嚴格控制。買辦階層推動了中國的洋務運動，催生了中國的民族資本主義。自清末至1949 年新中國成立前，買辦階層與官僚、資本家結(jié)合在一起，形成“官僚買辦資產(chǎn)階級”。官僚買辦資本主義是舊中國“三座大山”之一。[3]

圖6 晚清時期的中國買辦

五是通過合同中關于船運的反復描述，可知110年前華北地區(qū)的煤炭運輸主要依靠水路航運。

六是該代理人合同為簽署前的草擬合同范本。經(jīng)過在歷史檔案中反復查找，只找到了紙張類型不一樣但為同一內(nèi)容的合同歷史草稿3 份，紙張類型分別為硬版紙和軟紙2 種。這3 份合同歷史草稿均沒有總經(jīng)理親筆簽名，也沒有官方印章。因此，推斷此為正式簽署之前的草擬合同范本。

七是110 年前的灤州公司管理制度完善。合同草稿經(jīng)多名高級管理人員審議和批注，說明合同起草和訂立過程中，企業(yè)管理民主，管理過程集思廣益。3份草擬合同出現(xiàn)了3 種不同筆體的勾畫和備注，且全部為英文書寫，說明該合同經(jīng)過3 位英籍高級管理人員的分別審議，并各自提出了修改意見，因時間超過110 年，需要進一步搜集史料證據(jù)來考證3 位英籍高級管理人員的具體姓名。

圖7 三份歷史合同原件