The Beginning Of Female Succession To Property In Republic Of China

It is about 1930 that Chinese traditional law and Western law communicates and mingles with each other in China. Female succession to property of China that was regarded as a kind of exaggeration before becomes honorable and permissible after the grand and spectacular legal reform. Laws show their real vitality with series of vigorous cases in Shanghai which opens earliest and makes impact on the whole country. The author tries to re-demonstrate the status and influence of the initial establishment of female succession to property of China through the changes of legal relationship and the occurrence of the cases.The article consists of three sections: introduction, main text and conclusion. The main text includes three chapters:The first chapter starts from describing the first case of Chinese females'succession to property——the historic case of Sheng Aiyi and its influence on female succession of China. The most direct influence was the encouragement to the females'of the Shengs as the Shengs'females of different status filed a series of lawsuits about succession during the continuous completion of the laws of females'succession. Cases of Shengs show the progress of females'succession to property in the times of the Republic of China.The second chapter describes the background of the establishment of female succession to property of China and its twisted process through exploring historical materials. Forced by political purpose, social movement and actual requirements of legal development, the laws develop from"Proposal of Women's Movement"to"Detailed Rules and Regulations for the Implementation of Married Females'tracing back to Succession". However, they have never been really established until the issue of"volume of succession"in"Civil Law", in which of them are also mixed up with quiet a few of the Supreme Court's judicial explanations derived from the different opinions with the purpose of the Kuomindang government.The third chapter describes great changes of the volume of succession in new civil law compared with laws of the past ages. From the concept of kinship, the range of successors and the change of property right to the succession of the family line and the separation of succession to property and then to the establishment of the new succession system, it presents a striking contrast in logic and conception between the new and the traditional law of China.With legal theories and true cases, the fourth chapter discusses the influence of the new law of succession on female succession to property, which includes both the legally proper protection for female succession to property and the relatively real reduction. As a daughter, mother and wife, a traditional Chinese female inevitably has some real relationship with family property in different degrees. The new law assures it in written form resulting from equal and good wish, but the defects of the regulations provides proper excuses for the loss of females'rights.The perfect way of understanding the whole meanings of legal revolution is to study cases in court for observing judicial practices. During collecting materials for this article, the author chooses some cases about female succession to property in a lot of"Shen Bao"and has found that the changes of legal institutions do not lie in countryside or formal meaning but cities and substantial meaning. After all, the new law enlightens the cultivation of right consciousness and the trend of equality of men and women though in fact justice does not achieve the legislators'expected effect.