| Property is the premise of people’s daily life and it’s also the pursuit of human beings from generation to generation. The digital age has brought us a new type of property, virtual property. In modern life, the popularity of the Internet makes the virtual property a necessity of our daily life. However, the lack of rules in the virtual world has plunged the virtual property into a situation where they can’t find their legal basis, thus the construction of legal system related to the virtual property is imperative. On the occasion of the revision of the Inheritance Law, the author tries to study the succession of the virtual property, hoping to help with the construction of the virtual property inheritance system.This article consists of four parts:The first part puts forward the study object of the article by typical cases, expounding the meaning of the virtual property and the rules about virtual property inheritance at home and abroad. The author deems that network virtual property refers to those exclusive and valuable electronic data which exists in the cyberspace, with external forms such as text, graphics, picture, sound and so on. It is typical with virtual property in the network games, including but not limited to QQ, weibo, E-mail, online stores, domain name, virtual equipment, weapons, virtual currency and so on. Virtual property has attributes of network dependence, time limit, appreciation, collection and so on. South Korea and the United States are at the forefront of the world in terms of the regulation of virtual property, South Korea has legally admitted the attribute of "personal property" of the virtual property so as to provide comprehensive protect. Four states in the United States have made it clear that virtual property can be inherited, There are also successful judicial precedents of inheritance of virtual property.The second part demonstrates the legitimacy of inheritance of the virtual property from the aspects of necessities and feasibilities. Its necessity mainly reflects in aspects as follows:first of all, virtual property itself has value, including use value and exchange value. Second, it is the objective demand of judicial practice.Third, it is imperative to protect the young industry. Its feasibility mainly reflects in:first, virtual property has property attribute with utility, scarcity and circulation, it can be inherited. Second, virtual property is citizens’legal private property, it can be incorporated into the category of heritage. Furthermore, there are successful cases about inheritance of virtual property at abroad, which is well worth reference.The third part has an empirical analysis of obstacles that the inheritance of the virtual property has encountered in theory and system. The inheritance of the virtual property has encountered the following theoretical obstacles:First of all, the legal attribute of virtual property is difficult to define; Secondly, there are disputes about the ownership of the virtual property. The institutional barriers reflect in:First of all, the network service agreement has ruled out the possibility of the inheritance of the virtual property; secondly, it is difficult to determine the value of the virtual property; finally, the burden of proof during the inheritance is hard to bear.The forth part of the article aims to seek corresponding solutions to the obstacles existing in inheritance of the virtual property, and propose the idea of inheritance system as to the virtual property in China. The author thinks that it is more reasonable to define the virtual property as "things" since it has the attribute of things. The owner of the virtual property is not fixed, we need specific analysis. The inheritance of the virtual property in China should follow the general principles and system of the traditional property and consider its particularity at the same time. The inheritance system of the virtual property includes the subject, the object, the relationship between rights and obligations and the procedure and so on. |
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