Research On The Construction Of Virtual Property Inheritance System In China

With the development of electronic information technology, the virtual property has been more and more popular.In recent years, virtual property inheritance cases are common, lack of legislation makes the judgments difficult. The problem of virtual property inheritance has become one of the difficult issues in the revision of “inheritance law of China”. The United States, South Korea and other countries who are developed in Internet economy, have recognized the legality of virtual property both in the legislative and judicial, some states of the United States have issued a legal document on the virtual property inheritance.In the face of the increased virtual property inheritance disputes and legislative blank, this article is going to provide some thoughts on the construction of the virtual property inheritance system in China.In understanding the concept, characteristics and Legal attribute of the virtual property, this article discuss whether virtual property can be regarded as civil legal heritage. Then, Under the situation of our country’s legislation and drawing lessons from the experience of foreign legislation, the object,subject and the inheritance process of virtual property may be encountered in the study.This article will give some suggestions to improve the virtual property inheritance law. At the same time, the auxiliary system of virtual property inheritance will be discussed in this article. At the time of the revision of the "succession law", we hope that we can build construction of virtual property inheritance system and improve the protection of virtual property inheritance.Because of the special nature of the virtual property, the definition of virtual property is not unified. Virtual property is invisible, rivalry, persistence, interconnectivity and value-added-by-users. The legal attribute of virtual property is different from the academic circle. Under the existing "dual system", the virtual property more close to the real right of "dominance", so it is reasonable to class virtual property as a kind of real rights. However, no matter how the legal property of the virtual property is, As long as it has the property, can be recognized as a kind of "property", then it can be explained in the inheritance law.As a matter of fact, the viewpoint that the virtual property is a kind of property has become the mainstream in the academic field. Because of the nature of virtual property and the close relationship with the real estate, actually virtual property is one kind of property. Users pay money or cost labor to achieve virtual property, so under normal circumstances, it is not wrong to think that the virtual property belongs to the users. However, in the case of user agreement which limit the Inheritance of virtual property, to account class virtual property, User agreement generally provides that operators have ownership, Initial register only has the right to use. In this regard, it should be specific case specific analysis, whether it belongs to inequality imparity clause should be discussed. Even if the operators have the ownership, from the perspective of fairness, we think that there should be no restriction on the terms and conditions of inheritance and the successor can inherit the right to use. At the same time, we should pay attention that provisions for the account class ownership is only limited to the account itself, does not involve virtual assets behind the account. In reality, most of the heirs are in fact want to inherit the "virtual assets", so we should distinguish clearly. For asset class virtual property, user agreement generally does not specify whether it can be inherited, but actually there will be prohibition of transfer clause. To this clause, we can not expand the explanation for forbidden inheritance. Prohibition of transfer clause can not hinder transfer due to statutory circumstances such as inheritance. Even though the prohibition of transfer clause means banning inheritance, the effect of prohibition of transfer clause is not determined. As standard terms, the prohibition of transfer clause should be judged on procedural fairness(including, but not limited to, the operator’s explanatory obligations)and content fairness. And according to different cases make different judgments. Therefore, "Inheritance Law of China" has no provisions on the virtual property, but we think virtual property can be recognized as the legitimate heritage of citizens under the protection of Inheritance Law.At present, the legislation of virtual property is still in the blank stage.But some other countries and regions, which are more mature in network development, have recognized the legal status of virtual property. Some states of the United States have also introduced legislation related to the protection of virtual property inheritance. These provide some references for the study of the inheritance system of virtual property in our country. Virtual property inheritance system should contain object subject Inheritance mode succession process and so on. On the object of virtual property inheritance, it can be divided into "virtual portal" and "virtual assets". On the subject of virtual property inheritance, under the basis of succession, the virtual property involving the interests of personality can be determined according to the principle of the most closely related principle. When the heirs are more than two persons, there is no need to split the "virtual portal" and "virtual assets" with spiritual interests. But for the "virtual assets" with economic value, dismemberment of property can be taken after value evaluation by the evaluation organization. To the vacancy of succession, if the virtual property involves privacy, Operators can choose to delete, if the virtual property don’t involve privacy and has property value, the operators can inherit them. The succession process should include “Heir application-Network operator review-Network operators assist to transfer the virtual property”.On the construction of the auxiliary system of virtual property, it should be clear and strengthen the responsibility and obligation of the network platform operators. Specifically, the operator shall have the obligation to keep the virtual property safety and security. And try his best to help the inheritance of virtual property. In the user agreement shall not contain clauses that prohibit virtual property inheritance. When the user is registered, do real name authentication as far as possible to ensure that the user’s identity information is true. When the heir needs to prove that the ancester owns the virtual property, it can take shifting of burden of proof. In addition, through the audit, before the start of succession, the operator can use the announcement system. At the same time, with the development of society, the virtual property inheritance will be gradually popularized. We can establish and improve Auxiliary system like the network heritage hosting business and electronic will business. Try our best to improve the inheritance protection of virtual property.On the occasion of the amendment of the succession law, we should take this as an opportunity to explicitly list the heritage including the virtual property. At the same time stipulate the object subject and process of virtual property in judicial interpretation. After the legislative conditions are ripe, we can set up a chapter in "Inheritance Law" to regular virtual property problems, or make a single line of virtual property. At the same time, constructing auxiliary system, strengthening the responsibility of the operator and giving full play to the role of the market. We can establish and improve Auxiliary system like the network heritage hosting business and electronic will business. Try our best to improve the inheritance protection of virtual property.