Among property for ancestor worship, since forest land for graves and farmland for management of graves contains with great economical value, if those are recognized broadly, unfairness towards successors will move deeper. Because those properties are...
Among property for ancestor worship, since forest land for graves and farmland for management of graves contains with great economical value, if those are recognized broadly, unfairness towards successors will move deeper. Because those properties are exempted from inheritance tax, there is another problem could brought up on equitable taxation side. Therefore, those properties should be recognized as negative as possible. For that reason, The Court tends to rule that forest land for graves and farmland for management of graves are recognized limitedly. However, a judicial precedent like that could not be enough to solve fundamental problem of ‘Article 1008-3 of the CIVIL ACT'.
It is a matter of course that a successor of property for ancestor worship is duty to conduct the ancestral rites. However, those duties are something that is not to enforce by law since it is just moral responsibility. As those successors of property for ancestor worship are only morally responsible to conduct the ancestral rites, they can disposal their inherited property as free as they wish. Since the responsibility of ancestor worship duty is only considered as moral duty, a question arises that if it is necessary to enforce the moral duty by law. This is something that should not be interfered by law but judging by manners and customs. By recognizing successor of property for ancestor worship to give freedom of selling out the property then it would be falling against the objective of establishing property for ancestor worship and would be ended up causing discrimination among the successors.
A back ground of establishing property for ancestor worship is closely related with 'the organization of a great landlord' of the Song dynasty in China. Land of a family, that are falling under property for ancestor worship and especially today’s forest land for graves and farmland for management of graves, were a system that was built by great landlord to see through his own ruling management. Fact of property for ancestor worship contains feudalism and classism as its origin is more toward basic cause of the problem than today's succession system of property for ancestor worship.
Things like a successor of ancestor worship must be one person, a division of the ancestral rites is must not be allowed, and, a legitimate and the eldest son only could inherit the ancestral rites and be blessed to hold a prominent position, are so called 'ideology of eldest son'. However, by looking at annals of legislation side of view, the ideology does not contain that of long history but rather looking it as distorted or exaggerated by Japanese imperialism. If so, I would like to think that there are not enough bases to support only one person, especially an eldest son, inheriting property for ancestor worship by applying traditionalism.
It is possible to state that our country’s succession of property for ancestor worship system is not succeed by our own tradition way of inheriting ancestor worship but imitating or referring to Japanese succession of property for ancestor worship system. However, today, even Japan, origin country of succession of property for ancestor worship system, is criticizing about the system and its abolition theory is becoming the general trend and also fact that a judicial precedent of Japan is approving divided and joint inheritance or showing flexible consideration made us to be very suggestive.
Fact that arrangement of the Supreme Court on registering the inheritance of property for ancestor worship is hardly applied and there are not many case of property for ancestor worship is evidence to the contrary that inheriting system of property for ancestor worship is mostly consulted by the person concerned during the process of dividing inheritance. If so, then it is questionable that regulation of property for ancestor worship that was brought up to protect ancestor worship and a public moral might not be able to achieve its objective but became a meaningless regulation.
Before the patriarchal family registry system was abolished, the person who superintends the ancestral rites was the legal heir to a house, but today once it was abolished, under joint inheritance successor’s agreement, the person who superintends the ancestral rites will be decided. And if they can not able to close the agreement, then I believe that a court of justice must provide decision of most suitable successor to be the person who superintends the ancestral rites by considering many different situation and each cases. However, I believe that by letting those people concerned decide who will be inheriting the property just like general inherited property will decrease number of legal controversy. Essentially, property for ancestor worship is inherited property and succession of property for ancestor worship is inheritance, I think it is right way for succession of property for ancestor to unify with legal principles of inheritance to solve.