日治時期臺灣人身分法規範於法制上係以所謂的「習慣/舊慣」作為內容,惟於近代西方法架構下,須經有權機關依法認定與承認,固有習慣始能取得國家法之效力,是日治時期臺灣人家族法的具體內容,須以總督府法院於判決先例中所實際確立之法規範為據。在此過程中,總督府法院確實將近代西方法及明治民法相關規範一併加入臺灣人家族法之內容,而與作為臺灣人固有習慣之傳統中國家族規範內涵同時存在,形成「不中、不西、不日」的多元鑲嵌模式。 總督府法院就臺灣人家之組成、延續及婚姻關係規範所從事的改造,主要集中於傳統家族主義作用之解構,以達成統治當局眼中的近代化意義。法院一方面注入明治民法上的家的元素,企圖在臺灣漢人社會複製出統御在戶主權之下的戶主—家屬關係,使臺灣人之家在規範上整編入國家法體系之中,朝向對臺統治政策由特殊統治主義邁向內地延長的政治正確發展,並落實殖民者對臺灣進行「文明化改革」的神聖任務;二方面也引進近代西方法所植基之個人主義與自由主義價值,強力改造以聘金為表徵之人身買賣,以及賦予妾充分而完整的離婚權利,從而完成真正一夫一妻制的改革。後者儘管為臺灣女性主體性及法律地位的提昇帶來新的發展,然而此一解放終究來自於國家的給予,因此在權利內涵上呈現出片段性與不完整性,故臺灣女性在國家法律中所身處的屈從與客體化地位並未有結構上的突破,甚至在殖民的情境中受到雙重壓迫與邊緣化的對待。
This thesis will explore and describe the diverse embedded feature of Taiwan’s Family Law under Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945) in which Taiwanese old customs, modern Western legal concepts and Japanese Family and Succession Law in 1896 were blended by the colonial court judgments, the modern legal mechanism that possessed the power to interpret the law. Though the judgments, the colonial court not only infused the Meiji civil law’s concept of family but also introduced the spirit of modern individualism and liberalism to fight against Chinese traditional family image as an attempt to realize modernization and japanization. While the court tried to duplicate the concept of the head of Japanese family into Taiwan, it also strived for transforming the old custom to buying wife and giving the concubine right to leave her husband. However, since the positive development of Taiwanese female legal status was forced by colonial court’s efforts, or state law, the old custom that treat woman as object still remained intact and Taiwanese female faced even much more harsh time under colonial era.