伪满洲国亲属继承法立法过程中的女性财产继承权问题

The Issue of Women’s Inheritance Rights in the Legislative Process of Drafting Manchukuo’s Law of Kinship and Inheritance

1937年,伪满洲国司法部开始着手制定伪满洲国的亲属继承法。伪民事法典审议委员会从“建设统一的大东亚法律秩序”的立场出发,决定制定统一法典适用于伪满洲国的满、汉、蒙、回等民族。中国法学家与日本法学家都参与了伪满洲国亲属继承法要纲的制定。以菅原达郎为代表的日本法学家和一部分中国法学家基于男女平等的思想,主张男女平等的财产继承权。然而,以朱广文为代表的另一部分中国法学家则想要维持男系中心主义的家庭制度,否定了女性的财产继承权。最后,这两种立法意见在成文的伪满洲国亲属继承法中作为折中的内容表现出来,即在将男系中心主义的家庭制度法律化的同时,伪满洲国亲属继承法将财产继承与宗祧继承分离,在一定程度上承认了女性的财产继承权。

The Department of Justice of the Manchukuo began to draft new kinship and inheritance statutes in 1937.The Civil Code Investigative Committee,including both Japanese and Chinese experts in jurisprudence,was formed to draft a unified set of statutes for Manchurian,Han Chinese,Mongolian and Muslim citizens based on the principles of Eastern morality(“东洋道义”)with a view to creating a legal order for Greater East Asia(“大东亚”).Such Japanese Committee members as Sugawara Tatsuro(菅原达郎)along with a few Chinese members attempted to draft statutes on inheritance based on the principle of gender equality.However,a group of Chinese members,beginning with legal scholar Zhu Guangwen(朱广文)citing the patrilineal family system customary to Manchurians and Han Chinese,refused to recognize female rights of inheritance.In the end,the Zhu faction’s opinion was incorporated into the law,legalizing patrilineal family organization and upholding the patrilineal inheritance of household heads.That being said,what had been legitimized was not customary family institutions per se,but rather the decision to reform traditional family customs in accordance with the opinion of the Sugawara faction,resulting in the separation of the right of property inheritance from that of zongtiao(宗祧)inheritance,the former recognizing wives and daughters’right of inheritance in the absence of male offspring.