中國大陸民法典對臺灣民法繼承編的啟示

Implications of PRC’s New Civil Code for the Law of Succession in Taiwan

中華人民共和國民法典於2021年1月1日起施行，該法典第六編「繼承」基本上係1985年施行之中華人民共和國繼承法，以「保護公民私有財產權」、「繼承權男女平等」、「養老育幼」、「權利義務相一致」、「互諒互讓協商處理遺產」等諸項作為基本立法原則。本文首先介紹該編內容，然後以「養老育幼」原則為主軸，從「遺產之分配方式」出發，分析養老育幼原則對於該法的影響，並以之與我國民法繼承編的相關規定作比較，藉以突顯出兩岸繼承法立法精神的主要差異。本文認為，對被繼承人受扶養權益的重視是中國大陸民法典繼承編對於臺灣民法繼承編最大的借鑑意義，在於進入少子化與高齡化社會之際，允宜賦予繼承制度新的意義，使被繼承人的遺產除了傳統意義上作為死後扶養之資本外，還可以使被繼承人的餘生獲得適當的保障。中國大陸民法典繼承編的相關制度設計容或不夠完善，而不免窒礙難行之處，但亦值得我國的立法者於日後修訂民法繼承編時參考。

The Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China will be promulga¬ted on January 1st 2021. The 6th Book of this Code is Law of Succession. This article firstly introduces the contends of this Book and then analyze how the legacy will be distributed according to this law. I find that the issue of maintenance is the axis of the law of succession in PRC. Both the needs for maintenance of the deceased and the heir matter under law of succession in PRC. In the contrary, law of succession in Taiwan put em-phasis on the rights of the heir to the legacy and overlook the needs of the deceased before his/her death. I therefore suggest that our Law of Succes-sion of Civil Code can take example from PRC’s law of succession, since maintenance of the deceased should be seriously taken in the aging society.