Overview of the Korean Civil Law

This article focuses on the understanding of the features and compilation of Korean Civil Law. After the Civil Code was promulgated in 1958, the Civil Code has gone through eleven amendments. Among the amendments, we have used the German, Japanese Civil Code as a reference upon the constitution of our Civil Code. However, comparing them, there are significant differences in Korean Civil Law. General provisions of the Civil Act Part III Claims are to identify and settle the purpose of an obligation and an optional provision which supplements the position of the interested party. Our Civil Code has 14provisions of typical contract. However, the Contract of Employment is in the Civil Code, but practically is regulated in the Special Law of Labor Standards Act. The provision of the Contract of Employment in the Civil Code proved to be a dead letter. Furthermore, there is no provision about Claim Right of Vicarious Compensation in the Civil Code; however,judicial precedents and the common view recognize such right. In the cases of Debts Payable to Order and Debts Payable to Bearer, the civil act is rarely applied to the debts payable to order and the debts payable to bearer because they are generally stipulated by the commercial act,bills of exchange and promissory notes act, check act and other special acts. In order to meet the changes from modernization, the Civil Act Amendment Committee was founded by the Ministry of Law in February 4, 2009 and has begun revising the Civil Act. The committee is currently making revisions on general provisions, real rights, claims, relatives, and inheritance.