와가츠마 사카에(我妻榮)의 법진화론

Japanese law professor Wagatsuma Sakae (我妻榮) is a law professor who has important meanings not only in Japan but also in Korea. The theory of civil law, established by Wagatsuma Sakae, has influenced Korean theory of civil law for a long time. Earlier, his civil law textbooks were translated into Korean and also used as textbooks for a long time. As a result, Wagatsuma Sakae is known only as a distinguished Japanese civil law professor in Korea. However, considering the whole academic system established by Wagatsuma Sakae, it is not appropriate to simply define him as a civil law professor. This is because Wagatsuma Sakae was also interested in legal sociology, legal philosophy and economics under the influence of Japanese law professor Suehiro Izutaro (末弘嚴太郞) etc. This can be seen, among other things, in his famous work, “The Superior Status of Claims in Modern Law” (近代法における債權の優越的地位). Here, Wagatsuma Sakae deals with the “change of civil law in response to the development of capitalism”. In other words, he deals with the question of how civil law changes in the capitalist system. This article intends to grasp these academic works from the perspective of legal evolution. According to the author of this article, Wagatsuma Sakae presented his own theory of legal evolution. It means that he is not only civil law scholar, but also a legal sociologist. In this article, the author will deal with this theory of legal evolution of Wagatsuma Sakae.