Defying Claims of Incompetence

2 - Defying Claims of Incompetence

Women’s Lawsuits over Separate Property Rights in Colonial Korea

from Part I - Rights in Historical Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2021

Sungyun Lim

Edited by

Celeste L. Arrington and

Patricia Goedde

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Celeste L. Arrington: Affiliation:
George Washington University, Washington DC
Patricia Goedde: Affiliation:
Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul

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Summary

The legal incompetence of wives (cheo-ui muneungnyeok) and its inhibitions on women’s legal rights in Korea during the Japanese colonial rule (1910–45) were emphasized during the postcolonial period. As a result, the actual legal activities of women during the colonial period have been overlooked. This chapter examines women’s lawsuits at the High Court of Colonial Korea (Chōsen kōtō hōin) over separate property rights during the colonial period. I show that women actively struggled in the colonial legal system to have their rights over separate property acknowledged against their opponents’ claims that Korean custom categorically denied property rights to women. Surprisingly, women won many of these cases. I argue that the colonial household registration system, where the rights of household heads over family property were strengthened, inadvertently resulted in the protection of separate property rights, many of which were held by women.

Keywords

Legal incompetence of wives separate property inheritance Korean custom High Court of Colonial Korea colonial household system Japanese colonial rule of Korea

Type: Chapter
Information: Rights Claiming in South Korea , pp. 43 - 62

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108893947 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

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