Research on the Matrimonial Property Relations in Modern Japan

首先，通过分析司法判决的变迁，考察了1898年《民法典》实施后夫妻财产关系的演变。每一位妻子，即使她是一家之主，也必须征得丈夫的同意才能实施某些法律行为，她的财产在丈夫的控制之下。因此，丈夫可以将妻子的财产统一到自己的财产上，并可以使用它。在使妻子丧失行为能力的制度下，立法者的意图是防止妻子做出违背丈夫意愿的法律行为，以便丈夫能够统一和管理家庭财产，但实际上，该制度对交易安全弊大于利，取消了妻子未经丈夫同意所做的行为。因此，在判决中，他们放宽了丈夫同意的形式，或者在婚姻解除后拒绝了取消，以保护交易的安全。然而，要从根本上解决这些问题，修改规定是必要的。其次，我们考察了大正和昭和早期的民法典修改工作。民法典修正案(1925年)的主旨是扩大妻子的法律行为能力，并废除丈夫管理妻子财产的权利。这可能意味着延长妻子的合法权利。但是，对于立法者来说，修正案的主要目的是保护交易安全。

First, we considered that how the matrimonial property relations were evolved after the enforcement of the Civil Code (1898) by analyzing the transition of judicial decisions.The matrimonial property relations prescribed in the Civil Code were as follows. Every wife, even if she was the head of a house (Ie), had to obtain her husband's consent to carry out some juristic acts and her property was under the control of her husband. So, a husband could unify the property of his wife to that of his own and could employ it. The system that was putting a wife under disability, the intention of the legislators was to prevent a wife from doing juristic acts against her husband's will, so that he could unify and manage the family property.But, actually, the system did more harm than good for the safety of transactions by the cancellation of the act done by a wife without her husband's consent. So, in the judgments, they eased the form of the husband's consent or denied the cancellation after the marriage was disolved, so that the safety of transactions could be protected. Although, revising the provisions was necessary to solve the problems fundamentally.Second, we examined the work of amending the Civil Code during the Taisho and the early Showa era. The gists of the amendment of the Civil Code (1925) intended to extend the legal capacity of a wife and to abolish a husband's right for the management of the property of his wife. It could mean the extension of the legal rights of a wife. But, for the legislators, the main aim of the amendment was to protect the safety of transactions.