The Civil Law Regulation Of "Pulling Strings" Behavior

In recent years,in China’s judicial practice,there have been a large number of cases involving pulling strings for people’s livelihood needs such as enrollment,job seeking and promotion,purchasing a garage,and commercial activities such as bidding and procurement,which are active due to the continuous development of the market economy.The commonly known term "seeking relationships" refers to actions taken to achieve personal interests that to varying degrees violate mandatory legal provisions or public order and good customs.The diverse and complex forms of pulling strings are harmful to the construction of a high-level rule of law society,and serious pulling strings can involve criminal and civil cross disciplinary cases of bribery and acceptance.However,at present,in China’s law,when disputes arise due to the trustee’s inability to achieve the purpose of the trustee’s request,and the trustee’s refusal to refund the repayment amount,the nature and consequences of the request behavior are unclear.This makes it difficult for courts in various regions to achieve unified judgments in terms of cause of action,effectiveness determination,and refund of money.Therefore,it is necessary to select typical cases of request behavior concluded by courts in various regions of the country through investigation and construction of request types to clarify legal application.Ultimately,it aims to reduce the occurrence of pulling strings and promote social fairness and justice.Generally speaking,in current judicial practice,due to the restrained nature of criminal law,courts in various regions rarely include petitioning behavior in the scope of criminal law adjustment.But there are also courts that have found that the solicitation behavior involves economic disputes,bribery,or solicitation type fraud,and have transferred it to the discipline inspection and supervision commission or public security organs for ruling to dismiss the prosecution.Most courts have determined that the act of solicitation falls within the scope of civil litigation,but their understanding of the legal relationship it belongs to varies,including contractual relationships,property rights,or unjust enrichment.In contractual relationships,there are also differences in the determination of agency contracts,intermediary contracts,or private lending contracts.Therefore,the basis for determining the legal effect of solicitation is also different.There are cases of determining the ownership of the requested property,including return,non return,fault sharing,and seizure.The fact that judicial authorities in various regions have different judgments on the same case of pulling strings indicates the urgent need for nationwide unified regulation in the trial of pulling strings.In practice,the vast majority of pulling strings do fall under the jurisdiction of civil litigation,but the necessity of its civil law regulation needs to be further investigated.On the basis of clarifying that the act of petition belongs to a civil litigation case,this article believes that the legal relationship of the unified petition should be based on the commission contract.The core controversial point of petitioning behavior lies in whether the petitioning behavior is effective and determines the ownership of the requested money.To shape a good social atmosphere and exert the regulatory role of the law in "seeking relationships through handling affairs".On the basis of determining the effectiveness of contracts,judicial authorities in various regions have established a processing model of "non return as the principle and return as an exception".For pulling strings that violate mandatory provisions such as laws and administrative regulations or seriously violate public order and good customs,the rule that property should be returned after the invalidation of the pulling strings should not be applied.Instead,the principle of non return should be introduced to deal with the system of payment for illegal reasons.For pulling strings that are slightly contrary to public order and good customs but are indeed legitimate needs of the parties,the judge should give appropriate recognition and establish a practice of returning the principal of the pulling strings but not supporting compensation for damages,in order to achieve a negative evaluation of the illegality of the actions of both parties involved in the pulling strings.For a few serious petitioning behaviors,such as those involving economic disputes,petitioning fraud,and other administrative or criminal laws,the people’s court should make it clear that they do not fall within the scope of civil case acceptance and rule to dismiss the lawsuit.