The Legislative Yuan “cleared its stocks” at the end of the year by passing several important bills. Among them, a bill to amend some articles of the Civil Code, along with the Enforcement Law for Part IV, Family Law of the Civil Code, was passed on Dec. 25, lowering the age of majority from 20 to 18. Meanwhile, for the sake of equality, the minimum age of marriage for both men and women will be the same — 18 years old, which is no change for men, but it had been 16 years old for women before the amendment. A buffer period was set before the amendments take effect on Jan. 1, 2023. This is the first major change of its kind in the Civil Code since its enactment and implementation in 1929.
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun, who presided at the meeting, said afterwards on his Facebook page that this is a prelude to the major task of amending the constitution. It has been the consensus of the ruling and opposition parties to revise the age threshold for the exercise of civil rights to 18 years old. The UK, France, and Germany changed their civil rights age threshold to 18 years old back in the 1970s. Taiwan’s neighbor Japan also completed such youth movement reforms in 2018.
On Dec. 30, the legislature also passed on its third reading an amendment to Article 1030-1 of the Civil Code, whereby, when filing for divorce, the interests or income through utilization of the property acquired by one party before the marriage relationship will not have to be distributed equally to both parties if the other party did not contribute to acquiring the assets or cooperate in their utilization.
Screen grab from the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy’s Facebook page 照片：台灣青年民主協會臉書
(Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times)
立法院年終大清倉，陸續通過了數項重要法案。其中包括十二月二十五日通過「民法部分條文」與「民法親屬編施行法」修正案，將成年年齡由二十歲下修為十八歲；同時，基於男女平等，最低結婚年齡由男十八歲、女十六歲，修正為男女均為十八歲，並設緩衝期，定於民國一一二年一月一日施行。這是民法自一九二九年制訂施行以來的首度重大變革。
主持院會的立法院長游錫堃會後在臉書發文表示，這是為接下來的修憲工程拉開序幕。下修公民權至十八歲已是朝野共識，英國、法國、德國早在一九七○年代就把公民權下修至十八歲，鄰近的日本也於二○一八年完成這樣的青年運動改革。
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Liberty Times 照片：自由時報記者陳志曲
立法院亦於十二月三十日三讀通過民法第一○三○條之一修正草案，未來國人要是離婚，只要其中一方對婚前財產所生孳息及運用所得沒有貢獻或是協力，雙方就不必平均分配財產。
(台北時報林俐凱)
With the international COVID-19 pandemic increasing in severity, tighter border restrictions mean that only a small number of Taiwanese will be able to travel abroad during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday period. As a result, hotels are doing a roaring trade in family reunion dinners this year, with several well-known five-star hotels becoming booked out as early as December last year. Two months ago, the Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel had sold nearly 200 preorders, while places for Lunar New Year dinners at the Okura Taipei and the Fullon Hotel also sold out last year. The pandemic has given a
I certainly won’t miss the commute! (5/5) 我對通勤是絕對不會想念的！（五） A: With global telecommunications, wireless connectivity and the death of the office, it will be possible to work from anywhere. B: So you think you could just take off to a beach or a beautiful, sun-soaked spot in an idyllic part of the world and do your work from there? A: If we could do it, many others could, too. There wouldn’t be an idyllic place left on Earth. They’d all be crowded with people shouting into their mobile devices or tapping away on their keyboards. A: 有了全球電信系統、無線網路，再加上辦公室的消失，以後要在哪裡工作都可以。 B: 所以你想這樣就可以到海邊，或者世界上某個詩情畫意、陽光普照的地方去，在那裡工作？ A: 如果我們可以這樣，很多人也可以呀！這樣地球上就不會有什麼詩情畫意的地方了。因為這些地方都會擠滿人，大家都大聲講手機，或是在鍵盤上劈哩啪啦打字。 （Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱譯） English 英文:
I certainly won’t miss the commute! (4/5) 我對通勤是絕對不會想念的！（四） B: Urban planners are going to have to massively rethink how cities are designed. Business districts will go out of the window. Office buildings will have to be repurposed. Commuter routes will become a thing of the past. A: They will be able to make open, green spaces for people to work in, which will be easier now with all this wireless connectivity. It’s going to be great! B: Careful what you wish for. We might not be tethered to the office, but we’ll still be tied to our mobile devices. We’ll still need to be contactable 24/7, slaves
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