On the Legal Effect and Discrimination of the True Intention Reservation in the Civil Code

The interpretation rules for expressions of intent in the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China do not clearly distinguish whether the counterparty is aware of the reservation of the true intention of the declarant at the subjective constitutive elements level. The interpretation results are highly dependent on judicial discretion, which may lead to a deviation between the judicial conclusion and the normative purpose of the true intention reservation system. At the level of legal application, true intention reservation can draw on the normative logic of false expressions of intent in the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China. By constructing a three-layer analytical framework of "identification of subjective intention-determination of whether the counterparty is aware-rule of balance of interests", it seeks a reasonable balance between the true intention of the declarant and the protection of the counterparty's interests, thereby enhancing the accuracy and uniformity of the judicial conclusion of related cases and effectively maintaining the transaction order and substantive fairness and justice.