일조방해로 인한 불법행위 손해배상청구권의 소멸시효 기산점 ― 대법원 2008. 4. 17. 선고 2006다35865 전원합의체 판결 ―

Abstract

The infringement of the right of light means that the interests of enjoying the sunlight are being infringed upon. As the society develops and the number of high-rise and density of buildings increases and the number of apartment buildings increases, the number of disputes caused by infringement of the right of light that has not been a major problem in the past is increasing. However, there are aspects of the lack of sufficient legislation on interests of enjoying the sunlight and infringement of the right of light. The decision of the Korean Supreme Court delivered on April 17, 2008 is explicitly judged on the starting point of the short-term extinctive prescription of the right to claim compensation for damages caused by the infringement of the right of light, focusing on the content of legally protected interests of enjoying the sunlight, the concept of infringement of the right of light and the problems of protected interests, etc. Based on that decision, this paper mainly reviewed the problems of starting point of the short-term extinctive prescription of the right to claim compensation for damages caused by the infringement of the right of light. The majority opinion of the judgment is that if the building is completed or the external framing work is completed due to an illegal construction act, as the owner of the adjoining land at that time could predict damage to property or mental damages that may occur in the present or future, the extinctive prescription prescribed in the section 1 of the Article 766 of the Korean Civil Code proceeds from that point on generally, which is reasonable. However, there is a problem in the part of the majority opinion on the starting point of extinctive prescription in exceptional cases where the offender is responsible for the removal of the building. That decision is meaningful in that it was the first decision of the Korean Supreme Court that made a detailed judgment on the issue of the starting point of the extinctive prescription of the right to claim compensation for damages caused by the infringement of the right of light.