「중화인민공화국 민법전」(2020년)의 제정과 동아시아에서의 그 의의 - 민법전 일반, 주요내용과 그 비교법적 시사점 -

Abstract

This study surveys the new Civil Code of China(2020), focusing on its system and contents. It also covers the process of enacting of the Civil Code of China, which was passed in 2020 and went into effect on January 1, 2021, as well as the primary contents in general and newly regulated provisions of each Book of the Civil Code, as well as the implications to Korean civil law. The Civil Code of China is divided into 7 books with a total of 1,260 articles. Each Book is separated as follows : General Part(Book 1), Real Rights(Book 2), Contracts(Book 3), Personality Rights(Book 4), Marriage and Family(Book 5), Sucession(Book 6), and Tort Liability(Book 7). Before 2020, China had no civil code so several Acts(Laws) were enacted and implemented in each relevant area, respectively as follows : General Provisions of Civil Law(1986), Contract Law(1999), Marriage Law(1980, 2001), Adoption Law(1991), Succession Law(1985), Security Law(1995), Real Rights Law(2007), Tort Liability Law(2009) and General Provisions of Civil Law(2017). The Supreme People’s Court issued judicial interpretations of these Acts as well. There have been four previous attempts to incorporate these civil acts into a unified civilcode, all of which failed. The work to enact the Civil Code began newly as a sort of rule of law in 2014，and it was finally enacted in 2020. The legislation of the Civil Code was taken into 2 steps, the first of which enacts the General Provisions of Civil Law and the second of which enacts every Books on other special provisions of civil law. In this study, we will examine the main contents of each Book in turn，as well as the Civil Code in general. Except for the new establishment of the Part on personality rights, the Civil Code of China was based almost entirely on the system and contents of the current civil laws(acts), First and foremost, the General Part(Book 1) incorporates the system and contents of the General Provisions of the Civil Law (2017), as well as some phrasing corrections, which are also primarily based on the General Rules of Civil Law(1986). In particular, the provisions on corporations were reorganized and the provisions on contract liability and tort liability in the Chapter on civil liability were excluded. among other changes. Following that, the Book on Real Rights(Book 2) is based on the Real Rights Law(2007)，which can be found retrospectively in the Security Law(1995). The Right of Habitation(Chapter 14) was newly added to the Rights of Usufruct(Part 3). Following that, although there were a conflict of doctrines about setting the separate Book of Obligations, in the end, the current Contract Law(1999) was followed in the Book of Contract(Book 3). Contracts for financing lease(Chapter 15), factoring contracts(Chapter 16), brokerage contracts(Chapter 25), and so on were newly established as the typical contract, and negotiorum gestio(Chapter 28) and unjust enrichment(Chapter 29) were added as quasi-contracts(Part 3). The Book on Personality Rights(Book 4) is a new addition to the system and contents of the Civil Code, defining personality rightsin general(Chapter 1) and several special personality rights, as follows: rights to life, rights to corporeal integrity, and rights to health(Chapter 2)，rights to name and rights to entity name(Chapter 3), rights to likeness(Chapter 4), rights to reputation and rights to honor(Chapter 5), rights to privacy and protection of personal information(Chapter 6). The adoption law(1998) is incorpprated into the current marriage law(1980, 2001 as revised) in the Book on Marriage and Family(Book 5) and some necessary revisions are made. The Book on Succession(Book 6) incorporates the system and contents of the current the Succession Law(1985). Finally, the Book on Tort Liability(Book 7) is a necessary amendment based on the system and contents of the current Tort Liability Law(2009). As a result, each Book of the Civil Code of China were prepared by faithfully incorporating the system and contents of the existing civil law(acts), and then making necessary amendments or adding new provisions. The General provisions of the Civil Law(1986), in particular, became the foundation for developing a system for not only the general part of the Civil Code, but also the other parts. Furthermore, in this study, we introduce the basic contents of each Part of the Civil Code of China，as well as the useful implications for Korean civil law. In particular, the new establishment of personality rights and its contents, the introduction of new contracts as the contract type, the independent composition of the Book on tort liability, or reorganization of main forms of civil liability-compensation for damages and cessation of the infringement，removal of the nuisance，and so on-will have positive implications as a legislative theory for Korean law in the future. The new Civil Code of China will be useful sources to consider as a lege ferende for a future study on the Korean Civil Code.