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第5号
蓑輪 明子 Akiko Minowa一九二〇年代の「家」制度改正論 ——臨時法制審議会の民法改正構想を素材に——
The Reform of the House (Ie) on the Gists of the Amendment of the Meiji Civil Code
2008年12月 発行
[ 要旨 ]
本稿では、臨時法制審議会が作成した民法改正構想の分析を行った（一九一九年に審議開始、一九二七年までに民法改正構想が完成）。中でも、戸主権や父母の権利の強化離婚制度における女性の権利向上、長男子単独相続制度の修正、「家」の単位の修正をめぐる議論を素材に、臨時法制審が1妻や子どもなど家族員の権利伸張、2家族生活保護の強化を通じて、「家」の強化を行おうとしていたことを明らかにした。先行研究では、「家」強化と家族員の権利伸張を相矛盾するものとして捉え、両者を対立させて理解する傾向が強い。しかし、改正構想を作成した当時の論者たちは、両者を対立するものとして理解していたわけではなく、むしろ「家」強化のために、家族員の権利伸張や家族生活保護の強化が必要だと考えていた点に着目し、臨時法制審の民法改正構想を描いた。
家族員の権利伸張、家族生活保護の強化の傾向は、二〇世紀を前後して先進資本主義各国で追求された家族法の改正方向である。こうした二〇世紀前後の家族法の改正方向を、家族法の現代化と捉えるならば、臨時法制審議会の改正構想も同様のなかみを持っている。また、「家」の強化のために、家族員の権利伸張、家族生活保護を行うと構想されていることから考えると、臨時法制審議会の民法改正構想は「家」を現代化しようとしたものとして位置づけることができるのではないか、と結論づけた。
[ Abstract ]
It is obvious that class no longer has the same attraction that it once had as an explanatory category because it has lost the explanatory power with which it was once attributed. This is the crisis of class politics. Many people are talking about the demise of class politics in real terms. In this negative type of circumstance, the basic question with which this article is concerned is, What are the class politics? It is not a simple question. We need to take several steps to investigate this less popular or even so much-hated notion to find out the particular salience of it in the post-war Japanese political scene.
The first step is to identify the actors of the class politics. Four collective actors the managerial elite, the working people, the peasant farmers, and the small business people are to be identified in the post-war Japanese history. Each seems to play a vital role to form the particular shape of class politics in its dynamics.
The second step is to find out the formation of class-based government that takes into account the power of these collective actors. In other words, how do these major class components form strategic alliances or hostile relations with each other? It is vital whether the traditional middle class, the peasant farmer, and the small business owner in particular, have achieved class-alliance with the management. By doing so, has the working class individual become unaffiliated, divided, and encircled.
The third and final step is to apply this theoretical assumption to the political history of post-war Japan. We can identify four historical phases in which the distinctive pattern of class politics were displayed.
We follow these steps to recapture the realistic notion of class politics since the end of the war.