本文考察血親繼承人、配偶繼承權、遺產酌給等制度,描繪我國民法中遺產繼承的圖像與原理。起初,傳統中國法中的繼承秩序是「由父傳子」,但自民法立法之始,即在條文上承認女兒與兒子同享繼承權,希冀實現男女平等。從遺產酌給的判決分析,可看出當時仍有相當程度的大家族生活共同體存在。其後時至1980年代,增訂剩餘財產分配請求權,繼承圖像逐漸從過去的大家庭生活傳承,轉變為夫妻協力建立的小家庭之配偶保障。而遺產酌給訴訟逐漸銷聲匿跡,也反映了大家族的崩解。其次,經由社會學與比較法之研究,可預期未來的高齡化以及家族功能弱化,將使被繼承人積極從事遺產規劃的必要增加,遺囑自由的原理及自我決定權會更受重視。本研究顯示,繼承的制定法雖未經太多修正,但作為連結財產法和身分法之存在,其實踐圖像卻一直跟隨著家族連帶之變化而呈現出不同之樣貌,相異的理念和原理在此交錯糾結。
This research attempts to portray Taiwan's inheritance system and analyze its significant principles through observing the practice of inheritance by consanguinity, spouses, and allocation of the decedent's property to the person financially provided by the decedent. It is said that the dominant inheritance rule in traditional Chinese Law is ”conveyance from fathers to sons.” However, legislators of current Civil Code decided to break the traditional rule, allowing daughters to have the same share of estates as sons in order to promote gender equality. Meanwhile, the existence of cases regarding allocation of the decedent's property reveals the fact that that joint family still prevails at that time. On the other hand, later in 1980s, the revision of matrimonial property indicates that the focus of Succession Law has to some degree changed from conveyance of family property to the protection of surviving spouses at death. Additionally, the extinction of cases related to allocation of decedent's property also reflects the collapse of joint family. Secondly, through the research of sociology and comparative law, this article considers that aging in population and weakening of family functions will force the elders to start estate planning. As a result, freedom of testation and self-determination are anticipated to attract more attention. According to this study, although the statutory law of succession has not been much amended, as a connection between Property Law and Family Law, its reality continues varying with family solidarity, and accommodates various ideas and principles.