Abolition of the Hoju System

Also called: abolition of the family-head system

Following a Constitutional Court ruling, the Civil Act was amended to abolish the family-head (hoju) system, replaced from 2008 by family relation registers.

The hoju system registered a family around its head, giving sons priority in succession and placing children in their father's register, and was criticized as discrimination between men and women. In February 2005 the Constitutional Court ruled it incompatible with the Constitution, and in March the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Civil Act abolishing it.

From 1 January 2008 individual family relation registers replaced the family registers. It took place under the Roh Moo-hyun government and appears in textbooks as a step toward gender equality.