Waseda University Institute of Comparative Law

     The Great Tohoku Earthquake occurred on March 11, 201 1 caused extensive damage. Because of that, a lot of issues on civil matters were also caused.

     First of all, many people died. The death was caused mostly by being swept away to the sea by the tsunami. Therefore, dead bodies are occasionally not found. Consequently, there is a problem that the death of a person cannot be confirmed. In general, the adjudication for a disappearance made by the family court (Civil Code Article 30 paragraph 2) or the procedure of entering the death in the family register by the mayor with a report of a public official such as a police (Family Registration Act Article 89) is required to confirm it. During the earthquake disaster this time, it cannot be expected that either of the said steps will be properly taken. Therefore, in reference to the family register, the requisites for the documents to be submitted for the notification of death (Family Registration Act Article 86 paragraph 3) was managed flexibly.

     When a person dies, the heir can renounce the inheritance within the given period (Civil Code Article 915). During this earthquake disaster, a special exemption law to extend the period was enacted.

     The earthquake also caused great damage to the land. According to the governmental authorities, who are surveying the land using a geodetic system called the Japanese Geodetic Datum 2000, the crustal shift of about 5 meters at maximum was observed in the disaster area. Such a shift makes it difficult to ascertain the boundaries of the land. Immediately after the earthquake, the government appealed to the people in the disaster area to maintain the boundary signs of the land placed on the local sites. There is a case where the problem was resolved by maintaining the boundary signs on the land. However, there is another case where it was difficult to ascertain the boundary because the crustal shift was not equal.

     Many buildings were demolished by the earthquake. In addition, the buildings in the area from where the people should evacuate because of the nuclear power plants accident are not usable. The problem concerning the lease contract on such buildings shall be resolved as well. In the interpretation of the Civil Code, the lease contract should have been terminated if the building had been demolished. Some problems may be resolved by applying this principle. However, in the area that suffered damage from the tsunami, the case is delicate as to whether the building was demolished. Furthermore, it has not been discussed in the past how the lease should be treated in case the building is unusable because of the evacuation. In the revision to the Civil Code of which the government council is now preparing, the final decision may be to provide a rule to allow termination of the contract in the event the lessee cannot achieve the purpose of the contract because the subject matter is temporarily unusable (see Interim Report of Points at Issue on the Civil Code (law of obligations) Reform, 45-5(2)).

     The procedure for real property registration in the event the building is destroyed is to register the loss of the building (Real Property Registration Act Article 57). Ordinarily, the owner of the building would apply for this registration. However, since it was hardly expected for the owner to do so in the earthquake disaster, it was decided that the government would make the registration under its authority, and the work will proceed with the support of specialists called the Land and House Investigator.

     Support benefits for reconstructing the livelihoods of disaster victims and other benefits are provided to the disaster victims by the government, so the rights to claim such benefits and a special law to restrict seizure of the money received as benefits were enacted. Additionally, the system to expand the scope of property not belonging to the bankrupt estate is put to practical use in order to prevent such money from forming the bankrupt estate and falling under the control of a bankruptcy trustee in case of commencement of bankruptcy proceedings for disaster victims (Bankruptcy Act Article 34 paragraph 4).

     Claims for damages by the people who suffered damage caused by the nuclear power plant accident is very serious. Not to expect the courts to solve all the issues, the measures to arrive at a solution by putting the system of Alternative Dispute Resolution to practical use has commenced in accordance with the guidelines for the damages indicated by the government.