Gegenwärtiger Stand der Schuldrechtsreform in Japan und Überblick über die Reformvorschläge

Abstract

In February 2013, the Intermediate Draft was presented as a first draft for a comprehensive reform of the law of obligations in Japan. In February 2014, a conference was hosted in Tōkyō by the Institute of Comparative Law of Chūō University in Japan and the German-Japanese Association of Jurists (DJJV), where this draft was intensively discussed. This paper is based on a lecture delivered at that conference, but was extensively revised in order to reflect the subsequent developments. At the beginning, the paper outlines the history of the reform process and the reasons for the upcoming reform of the law of obligations, followed by a description of the current stage of the reform process. The paper notes that in February 2015, a Reform Proposal was presented to the minister of justice that was based on the Intermediate Draft and which would serve as a Reform Bill. Thereafter, the paper explains the details of the Reform Proposal and indicates the differences compared with earlier drafts. The author in particular illustrates the following contents of the Reform Proposal: statute of limitation, provisions concerning performance, compensation for damages in relation to cases of non-performance, rescission of contract, subrogation rights of the creditor, creditor’s right of avoidance, surety, principles of contract law, provisions concerning contract negotiations, and sales law. For illustration purposes, the author adds German versions of a number of the proposed new regulations. The author regrets the deletion of some regulations that had been proposed in earlier drafts and, furthermore, that the extent and content of the reform eventually fell short of the original objectives of the reform. In particular, the author notes that the Civil Code after the reform would still address the legal professional rather than the ordinary citizen.

(The Editors)