在英国法中履行不能规则的地位并不像其在原来的德国债法中那样显赫,而且在英国普通法的资源中也找不到履行不能能够免除或者不免除合同债务的理论依据。所以在履行不能规则的创设过程中,起初并没有统一的规则,而且就是这样不统一的规则也常常是通过参照圣经、罗马法等外来资源才完成的。但是英国法通过几个著名的判例建立起了自己的履行不能法体系,这个体系不但对后来的美国法产生了深远的影响,而且对几个有关的国际公约也影响颇深。我国长期以来受德国法的影响很深,对于英美法中相应的制度却很少涉及。本文试图对英国法中履行不能规则加以梳理,以便与大陆法的相关做法予以比较和对照。 It is not as prominent in British law that it can not rule as it was in the original German debt law, nor can it find in the common law resources of Britain a theory that it can not be waived or exempt from contractual debts. Therefore, at first, there was no uniform rule in the process of creating an irrational rule, and even such non-uniform rules were often accomplished through reference to foreign resources such as the Bible and the Roman law. However, the law of England established its own system of law enforcement through several well-known precedents. This system not only had a profound impact on the later American law, but also affected several relevant international conventions. Our country has long been deeply influenced by the German law and has seldom been involved in the corresponding system in Anglo-American law. This article attempts to sort out the failure to fulfill the rules in British law in order to compare and contrast with the relevant practices of civil law.