Study On The Legal Effect Of The Partial Performance Of Debtors After The Limitation Of Actions

Limitation of actions is designed to detract from or even eliminate the legal effect of rights that are exercised negatively during the prescribed time.With regard to the legal validity after the completion of the limitation of actions,there are currently three theories,extinction of subjective rights,extinction of claims and occurrence of right to counterargument.At present,China takes the third theory.In the judicial practice,there is a dispute about the legal effect of the partial performance of the debtor after the limitation of actions.The main point of the dispute lies in whether the partial performance after the limitation of actions can produce the legal effect of abandoning all the right counterargument of the limitation of actions.There are three reasons for the controversy.Firstly,it is easy to confuse the voluntary performance with abandoning the counterargument right.Secondly,the meaning of the voluntary part of the performance is enlarged.Thirdly,there is a misunderstanding of the interruption of the limitation of actions.The legal effect of the partial performance of the debtor after the limitation of actions shall be analyzed in three aspects.Firstly,debtor cannot demand repayment of debts paid.The reason is that if the debtor does not invoke the right counterargument of the limitation of actions,the nature of the debt is a statutory debt,and the creditor can naturally retain the payment;if the debtor is first invoked it and then performance voluntarily,the nature of the debt is natural debt,and the debtor cannot claim the return due to the retention capacity of natural debt.Secondly,for the act of the partial performance,it does not mean giving up all the right counterargument of the limitation of actions.The reason is that there is a difference between the voluntary performance and the abandoning the right counterargument of the limitation of actions.Thirdly,the act of partial performance cannot be presumed to be consistent with fulfilling all obligations.