Legislative Studies on International Protection of Adults

1998年，我的研究主要集中在明年将通过的新的保护成年人的海牙公约的准备工作上。该公约旨在规定在国际情况下保护因其个人能力受损或不足而无法保护其利益的成年人。1999年，我向司法部长咨询小组(国际私人司)提交了一份题为《关于保护成年人的公约草案初稿的意见》的文件。根据小组的讨论，包括我在内的日本代表团于9月20日至10月2日在荷兰海牙举行的具有外交性质的特别委员会会议上提出了若干建议。这些建议显然反映了10月2日最终通过的《国际保护成年人公约》的相关规定。日本民法典关于保护成年人的新规定于2000年4月1日生效。这项改革的主要目的是使人们能够对不同程度的丧失能力或脆弱性和不同情况作出适当和灵活的反应。这项改革导致删除了日本法律选择规则的若干条款中使用的这种污名化临时雇员。不幸的是，这远远不能令人满意。新的“协助”和“委托书”制度无疑需要对相关规则进行一定的实质性改革。1999年，研究扩展到对此类国内法律选择规则的分析。

In 1998, my researches were mainly concentrated upon the preparatory works for the new Hague convention for the protection of adults to be adopted next year. The convention aims to provide for the protection in international situations of adults who, by reason of an impairment or insufficiency of their personal faculties, are not in position to protect their interests.In 1999, I submitted a paper entitled 'Comment on the Preliminary Draft Convention on the Protection of Adults' to the Advisory Panel for the Minister of Justice (Private International Division). In light of the discussions of the Panel, the Japanese delegations including me made several proposals at Special Commission of a Diplomatic Character held in the Hague, the Netherlands from 20 September to 2 October. These proposals obviously reflected on the relevant provisions of 'Convention on the International Protection of Adults' finally adopted on 2 October.The new provisions of the Japanese Civil Code enter into force on April 1 in 2000 with respect to the protection of adults. This reform principally purports to enable a suitable and flexible response to be made to different degrees of incapacity or vulnerability and different situations. The reform led to the deletion of such stigmatising temps as used in several provisions of the Japanese choice of law rules. Unfortunately, this is far from satisfactory. The new institution of 'assistance' and 'powers of attorney' undoubtedly need a certain substantial reform of the relevant rules. In 1999, the researches were extended to the analysis of such domestic choice of law rules.