The two-year requirement for a natural person to be declared dead does not apply where the person’s
whereabouts have been unknown as a result of an accident and if a relevant authority cer es that it is
impossible for the said natural person to s ll be alive.
Ar cle 47 Where an interested person requests the people’s court to declare the death of a natural person,
while another interested person requests to declare the person being missing, the people’s court shall
declare that the person is dead if the condi ons for declara on of death as prescribed in this Code are
sa s ed.
Ar cle 48 For a person declared dead, the date when the people’s court makes a judgment declaring his
death is deemed as the date of his death; for a person declared dead because his whereabouts is unknown
as a result of an accident, the date of the occurrence of the accident is deemed as the date of his death.
Ar cle 49 The declara on of the death of a natural person who is s ll alive does not a ect the e ects of the
civil juris c acts performed by the person during the period the death declara on is e ec ve.
Ar cle 50 Where a person declared dead reappears, the people’s court shall, upon request of the person or
an interested person thereof, revoke the declara on of his death.
Ar cle 51 The marital rela onship with a person declared dead ceases to exist from the date the declara on
of his death is made. Where the declara on of death is revoked, the aforemen oned marital rela onship
shall be automa cally resumed from the date the declara on of death is revoked, except where the spouse
has married to someone else or states in wri ng to the marriage registra on authority the unwillingness to
resume the marriage.
Ar cle 52 Where a child of a person declared dead has been legally adopted by others during the period
when the declara on of death is e ec ve, the person declared dead shall not, a er the declara on of his
death is revoked, claim that the adop on is invalid on the ground that his child is adopted without his
consent.
Ar cle 53 Where a declara on of the death of a person is revoked, the person is en tled to request those
who have obtained his property under Book VI of this Code to return the property, or make appropriate
compensa on if the property cannot be returned.
Where an interested person conceals the true informa on and causes a natural person to be declared dead
so as to obtain the la er’s property, the interested person shall, in addi on to returning the wrongfully
obtained property, make compensa on for any loss thus caused.
Sec on 4 Individual-Run Industrial and Commercial Households and Rural-land Contractual Management
Households
Ar cle 54 A natural person who operates an industrial or commercial business may register it, in accordance
with law, as an individual-run industrial and commercial household. An industrial and commercial household
may have a trade name.
Ar cle 55 Members of a rural economic collec ve who, in accordance with law, have been granted an
original contract to operate a parcel of rural land and engages in the opera on of the land on a household
basis are rural-land contractual management households.
Ar cle 56 The debts of an individual-run industrial and commercial household shall be paid from the assets
of the individual who operates the business in his own name or from the individual’s family assets if the
business is operated in the name of the household, or, if it is impossible to determine whether the business
is operated in the name of the individual or in the name of the individual’s household, from the individual’s
family assets.
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