How to calculate years, months, and days in the Civil Code?

Compiled from: "Study Reader of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China", Shandong High Court
 
Case review
Wang was the legal representative of the defendant, Yongshun Breeding Company. On February 4, 2018, due to difficulties in capital turnover, Wang and Yongshun Breeding Company borrowed 1.5 million yuan from Zhongcang Agricultural Company and issued an IOU, with a loan term of one month. On the same day, Zhongcang Agricultural Company transferred a total of 1.5 million yuan to Yongshun Breeding Company through the bank. After the loan matured, Wang and Yongshun Breeding Company failed to repay on time, so Zhongcang Agricultural Company filed a lawsuit with the court, demanding repayment of the debt and interest. The court of first instance ruled that Yongshun Breeding Company and Wang shall jointly repay Zhongcang Agricultural Company the loan of 1.5 million yuan and interest (calculated at an annual interest rate of 6% from March 5, 2018 until the date of full repayment).

 

Yongshun Breeding Company refused to accept the judgment and filed an appeal, arguing that the loan term agreed upon by both parties was one month, which should be calculated as 30 days, meaning the loan period ran from February 4, 2018 to March 6, 2018. The court of first instance determined the loan maturity date as March 4, 2018, a period of 28 days rather than 30 days, which would cause the appellant to bear additional interest. The court of second instance dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
 
In the above case, on February 4, 2018, the promissory note issued by Wang to Zhongcang Agricultural Company stipulated a loan term of one month. Where a period is calculated by year or month, the corresponding day in the expiration month shall be the last day of the period. Therefore, the loan term should commence from the day following the loan date, namely February 5, 2018, and the corresponding day in the expiration month is March 5, which is not a statutory holiday. Accordingly, the loan term runs from February 5 to March 5, 2018. Since Yongshun Breeding Company failed to repay the loan upon expiration of the loan term, interest shall be calculated from March 5, 2018.
 
 
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
Article 200
Periods referred to in the Civil Law are calculated according to the Gregorian calendar year, month, day, and hour.
 
Article 201
When calculating a period by year, month, or day, the starting day is not counted, and the calculation begins from the next day. When calculating by hour, the calculation begins from the time specified by law or agreed upon by the parties.

 

 
[1] The author's perspective
A period must have both a start date and an end date. For example, the limitation period for a debt performed in installments is calculated from the date on which the performance period for the final installment expires, while a scheduled period is calculated from the date on which the right holder knows or should know that the right has arisen. If the date on which the performance period for the final installment expires is May 9, 2018, does the limitation period then begin to run from May 10, 2018? As a matter of common sense, the start date is generally the date on which the right arises or the last date of the debt performance period, and that date should still be counted within the performance period. Therefore, where the law provides that a period is calculated by year, month, and day, the day on which the period begins is not counted, and the period is calculated from the following day. Accordingly, the above limitation period should begin to run from May 10, 2018.
 
Social life is complex and diverse. We often agree on specific times for relatively urgent matters—for example, a book must be returned to me before 12 noon today. We also frequently agree on times precise to the hour for matters requiring finer time control, such as an insurance period for a vehicle running from 9:00 on a certain date to 8:00 on a certain date. Some matters even require precision down to minutes and seconds, such as stock, futures, and foreign exchange trading. In situations where a time unit smaller than a day is needed as the unit of measurement, the law does not adopt minutes or seconds as units of measurement, but retains only hours. This is because minutes and seconds are, after all, special circumstances, whereas statutory provisions address general circumstances. Special circumstances may either be separately provided by law or left to the parties to agree upon. If a period is calculated in hours, it does not begin from the next hour, but directly from the time agreed upon by the parties or the time prescribed by law. For example, if the parties agree to deliver goods before 12 noon and delivery is not made by 12, the period begins to run from 12.