晚清民国清徐县王氏家族分家析产初探

An Analysis on Separation Documents of Wangs Family in Qingxu,Shanxi in the Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic of China

分家析产是民间社会非常普遍的历史现象,分家行为的重要法律凭证是分家单,因此通过研究分家单可以直接反映历史上的分家析产行为。清末民初山西清徐县王氏家族分家就具有典型性,其分家的主要原因有二,一是为解决家族内部矛盾,二是为促使后辈独立生存和发展。清徐王氏家族分家原则是按诸子均分、共同赡养,其具体流程是在族长的主持下操作。分家析产行为有积极与消积两重社会影响:虽然有效地维护了家族的正常生活和发展,但同时又导致了家庭间的社会分化、土地的分散化、中贫农阶层的扩大等问题。

Household division was a very common historical phenomenon in the rural society.The important legal evidence of the household division is the contract of property division,so the study of the contract of property division can directly reflect the history of household division.The first main reason for the household division of the Wangs Family in Qingxu,Shanxi in the late Qing Dynasty and early years of the Republic of China was to solve the contradictions within the clan,and the second one was to encourage the younger generations to be independent and to develop their abilities to survive all by themselves;the patriarch directed the property division according to the principle of dividing the property equally among the sons and supporting the parents together.Property division had both positive and negative social impacts:Although it effectively maintained the normal life and development of a clan,it also led to many problems,such as the social cleavages in the family,land fragmentation and the expansion of the poor classes.