波兰继承法的百年变迁

Evolution of the Polish Law of Succession in the Past 100 Years

对于一项法律规定的解读,往往需要溯源至最初的立法历史和社会背景。在这方面,被多次修正的波兰继承法是一个很好的研究范例,其历经了不同的法律传统承继和社会制度变迁的影响,规定变化繁杂。20世纪初期,波兰被各大势力分割,在1918年重获独立后民法没有立即推翻旧有规定,而是通过新法颁布来逐步修改,造成一国存在不同的继承法体系。1946年继承法合并,颁行了三部全国通行的法令,由于程序法和实体法的不协调而受到很多批评。1990年后的立法和司法实践促成了继承法的进一步法典化。各地区继承法的根本差异在于三点:一是继承形式是否仅限于遗嘱或法定继承,二是继承权取得的时间是否不同,三是在无遗嘱情况下的继承顺位规定是否不同。纵观百余年的变化,波兰继承法的总体特点就在于构造和描述很简练,但应用层面的解释难度却呈几何级数倍增长。

When we try to explain a regulation, we often need to trace it back to its legislative history and social background. In this respect, Polish inheritance law is a very good research paradigm, as it went through different legal traditions of inheritance and was influenced by the change of social system. In the early twentieth century, the law on Polish lands was the law of the partitioning powers. After the independence in 1918, the new Polish State did not al- ter the civil legislation that was in place, but gradually modified it with new laws published by the authorities of Poland, which led to the existence of five different inheritance law systems on this land. Adoption of unified legislation on inheritance for the whole country was done in 1946 and three decrees with the force of law were issued, which got much criticism because of the in- congruity between procedural law and substantive law. The legislation and legal practice after 1990 promoted the further codification of inheritance law. The fundamental differences between inheritance laws in different regions lie in the following three points： first, the question of whether the form of inheritance is limited only to inheritance by testament and inheritance by the operation of law, or does it also include inheritance the acquisition of inheritance; and third, the order by contract; second, the change of time in of succession in cases where a will has not been made. An observation of the evolution of the Polish inheritance law over the past hundred years reveals the following general characteristic： ease of construction and presentation, but-on applying-the likelihood of interpretation difficulties expanding in geometric progression.