러시아가족법상 법정부부재산제의 어제와 오늘

The Russian legal marital property regime: the past and the present

Comparative law analyses on marital property regimes, and community property in particular almost always focus on a select number of legal systems, such as those of France, Italy and certain American states. It is unfortunate that Russian family law which adopted the community property regime in 1926 is rarely, if ever, mentioned in such studies. However the fact that in Russia spouses have for almost a century enjoyed joint ownership of property acquired during marriage, should not be neglected. On the contrary, given that Russian family law takes its roots from socialist family law, which is still prevalent in many parts of the world, including former Soviet republics as well as North Korea and China, it deserves to be the subject of extensive research. In the present work the author examines the theoretical foundation and historical background of community property in Russia. Special focus is placed on identifying the rationale behind the legislation of the revolutionary lawmakers of the first half of the 20th century in Soviet Russia. No less important is the emphasis on how Russian family law influenced the marital property regime in North Korea. The present work also studies the current Russian property regime between spouses. Both doctrine and case law are explored thoroughly. Such research reveals among other things that the balance between the independence of spouses and the communal nature of marriage, is skewed in favor of the latter. Such a conclusion may have important implications for the marital property regime in Korea.