The Analysis Of Song Dynasty System Of Women Inherit

Under the influence of Confucian Ethical Code, the social status of female in Chinese feudal society has been much humbler than male, which is reflected in the laws of every dynasty. However, the social status of female was standardized and improved systematically in Song Dynasty. One performance of this change in Song Dynasty was that female's inheritance of property was developed in national laws. Compared to the others in the ancient times, this system in Song Dynasty has its own distinct characteristics, and it has an irreplaceable position in the development of Chinese legal history.This paper is divided into five parts. The first part is introduction, which describes the reasons and significance of the author to chose this topic of "female's inheritance of property in Song Dynasty", and reviews the previous studies on this issue from other scholars. The second part is discussed from these following three aspects:the existence of the system in Qin and Han dynasty, the legal recognition phase in Tang Dynasty, and the development stage in Song Dynasty. The third part is about the system of daughters'inheritance of property in Song Dynasty. Daughters are divided into three types according to marriage:the single are called "zaishi", the married are called "chujia", and daughters who come back home due to divorce or the death of husband are called "guizong". In addition, the author also analyzes the inheritance of property of these three kinds of daughters in general situation and special situation (when there is no son in family).The fourth part is mainly about inheritance of property of widows and concubines whose husband was dead. In the fifth part, the author focuses on comment of female's inheritance of property in Song Dynasty, including its characteristics and significance.