한국민법에 있어서 일본민법의 영향과 역사적 과제 - 서론적 고찰 -

Abstract

The Korean Civil Code has been influenced in significant ways by Japanese Meiji Civil Code and Japanese legal study before the Second World War. Japanese Meiji Civil Code was the product of various comparative legal studies and affected by the draft of German Civil Code as well as French civil Code and the other civil codes of that time. Nevertheless, the interpretation of Meiji Civil Code in Japan was strongly influenced by the theories of civil law in Germany. The Japanese scholarship’s inclination to German legal study had an affect on the formation of Korean Civil code in 1958. The Korean Civil Code is closer to German civil law than the Japanese Meiji Civil Code as a result. Professor Jeong insists that it can be explained only by the influence of the Japanese study on civil law, but professor Yang insists that it can be explained as the result of independent decisions of the Korean Civil Code’s fathers to get out of under Japanese imperialism’s influences. Although these two scholars have differing viewpoints, the difference is not reflected in the facts. But, at present, the influences of Japanese civil law on the Korean Civil Code and civil law study have not yet been concretely clarified. Therefore, the historical challenge in Korean civil study is the explanations in detail of the distortions and undue influences of the Japanese Meiji Civil Code and Japanese legal study on the Korean Civil Code and the development of the korean civil law studies in independently perspectives to resolve the legal conflicts in Korea.