An Economic Analysis of Inheritance System : From a Perspective of Law and Public Choice Theory

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We, first, analyzed the inheritance law system in Japan from the law and economics and public choice theory, and fairness and justice, and secondly, planned the optimal law system of inheritance. We focused on the inheritance law, trust, donation, wills, and intestate succession and so on.Inheritance is one of forms of wealth distribution. But there are many things to be succeeded from parents to their children, such as property, which usually inheritance law covers, talent, and health. Our present system of inheritance law is not optimal from the point of view of resource allocations, distribution of property or wealth, and enforcement of the legal system.Our inheritance law in the Civil Code has many technical rules governing the wills, the intestate inheritance, and many procedures to divide estate. In the wills, the law offers the rules correcting the ambiguities and supplementing the incompleteness of the testator's wills. Even in the intestate succession, which is the default rules of the inheritance law, the Civil Law provides the standard of the wealth distribution among the heirs and, thus they reduces the transaction cost in dividing and distributing estates among them. This cost aspect of our succession law should be estimated in planning the optimal inheritance law system.Inheritance taxation has been justified for ethical its function of the correction of societal deformity. In this point, social justice, distributive justice, and moral values should be employed to justify the inheritance taxation. Modern devices such as higher education and health insurance and so on from the alternatives to modem "inheritance". These circumvent the inheritance law and restrictions on the use of property, and inheritance taxation.