Abstract
In contemporary Taiwanese law, civil cases and criminal cases have different rules and procedures; the two types of cases are strictly divided. Disputes over obligations that involve no intent of fraud are to be resolved with civil law and civil procedures as they are related to the rights and obligations between individuals. However, in modern Taiwan, there is a phenomenon in which persons involved in disputes over obligations file complaints (such as fraud) with police or public prosecutors instead of initiating an action with a civil court, in hopes of resolving a still-unfolding dispute via criminal procedures. These cases are called “False Property Crimes” by the Ministry of Justice.
Nevertheless, the distinction between civil law and criminal law is not a matter of course. In the traditional Chinese law that prevailed in Taiwan society under Qing rule, “civil” and “criminal” were not clearly divided. Traditional Chinese legal culture viewed disputes between people from a moral perspective; the judge’s duty was to educate the parties involved and to end the litigation. To request the government to protect one’s interests was to call attention to a grievance or injustice and to accuse the defendant of unethical behavior. In modern Western legal culture, on the other hand, disputes over obligations are considered as conflicts between the rights of individuals, and a party to the dispute is expected to file an action with the court in order to protect their rights. Once European continental law entered Taiwan through Japanese rule, the legal consciousness that subsequently arose was based on two different legal cultures and conflicted with society. Ultimately, this has led to the phenomenon of “False Property Crimes” that we observe in Taiwan. Additionally, civic and legal education in Taiwan for a long time neglected to develop a consciousness of rights among the people; this was also an important factor in maintaining the gap between these two types of legal consciousness. These two factors—the conflict between legal cultures and the legal education that sustained it—are the keys to understanding how the phenomenon of “False Property Crimes” appeared in Taiwanese society and why it still exists.
Keywords
False Property Crimes, legal culture, legal consciousness, legal education
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