Recent Revision Work on the Korean Civil Code

This article was originally written and presented in Japanese at Tokyo University in June of 2002 and at Kyoto University the following month. Its purpose was to inform Japanese civil law scholars of the revision work on the Korean Civil Code ("KCC") in detail, which has been in progress since February 1999. The thesis first opens with the formation of the Civil Code Revision Committee("Committee"), and its agenda. In the discussion, I try to articulate the historical context of this revisionary work. While the original codification of the KCC in the 1950's was planned and executed by legal practitioners who had been trained under the Japanese colonial rule, the current reforms are being mainly handled by university professors, most of them in their 40's or 50's, some of whom have had practical experiences as judges. One of the salient features of the Committee is the fact that most of its members studied law in Germany after graduating from law colleges in Korea. Though the stages of their life when they went abroad, the conditions as well as the length of their stay may vary, this common feature may explain why many of the proposals made contain a very German touch. The article goes on to deal with the items discussed by the Committee and the results of these debates. Its reformative proposals for the KCC are extensive and far-reaching. From the tentative draft, six provisions were chosen to show, as clearly as possible, the characteristics of this revisionary work, e.g. the proposal on the general principle of KCC, mistakes, restrictions on the presumption of the possessor's intention of holding as owner, restrictions on so-called de more superficies, guarantee contract, and finally, termination of the contract. I conclude this article with some lessons and/or personal opinions that I formed during my time and experience as a member of the Committee