臺灣現行民法上的財產繼承是建立在「個人財產制」之上，也就是說，財產貨屬於個人，個人死後，發生財產繼承之效果；是在人民日常生活中，仍然存有「家產」的觀念。有主要目的在釐清這種「家產」觀念在臺灣社會的形成過程。研究結果顯示，「家產」觀念源於清治時期的「家產制度」，以「家」做為財產的歸屬單元，並由家中男性最尊長代表「家」進行家產管理。當時尚無現行民法上的「財產繼承」概念，家產是透過「分家」的方式均分給新一世代的家。1895年臺灣成為日本的殖民地後，開始透日本法繼受近代歐陸民法，雖然保存了傳統的「家產」觀念，但是在意義上開始出現變化。例如，只有個人才是財產權主體，因此家產屬於家父長個人所有；日治晚期則偏向日本民法規定，以戶主為家產所有人。現代民法上的「財產繼承制度」也首次被引進臺灣社會。1945年，中華民取代日本成為臺灣統治者，根據中華民國法體制，財產也是屬於個人所有，同時也有財產繼承制度，但是並無「家產」之概念。但是這不意謂著「家產」觀念完全從臺灣社會消失，毋寧，「家產」只是不再屬於實定法的概念而已，但是仍然存在於一般人的生活中。，在繼受西方法一個世紀後的今日，「家產」這樣的概念仍然存在於臺灣社會，圖是在意義上，除了傳統上以「家」為歸屬的觀念外，也有受到現行民法影響而有「父親個人財產」或「家長個人財產」這樣的意思。

Taiwan's active succession law is based on the principle of "personal property". That is, property belongs to some "person", and a "property succession" opens with his death; but still there is a conception of "family property" in Taiwanese daily life. This article is to deal with the forming and changing process of the conception. As the conclusion suggests, the conception of "family property" can be traced back to Ch'ing period, when there was a "family property system", under which the unit the property belongs to is "a family", governed by the elders and betters. There was no modem conception of "property succession", too. The family property was equally divided up according to the numbers of new-generation family. In 1895, Taiwan became Japan's colony, and, through Japanese law system, started indirectly to recept western (European) civil law. During this period, the traditional conception of "family property" was retained, but took on a different meaning. For example, under Japanese law system, the property can only belongs to a "person", so the "family property, "no longer means "the property belongs to a family", but "the property, belongs to a patriarch", and later a step closer to Japanese civil law, to a "house head". The modern "property succession system" was also introduced to Taiwanese for the first time. In 1945, the ROC government took the place of Japanese one as Taiwan's new ruler, and under whose law system, there is a principle of "personal property", and a "property succession system", too, but no such conception as "family property " This, however, doesn't mean the conception of "family property " is vanished from Taiwanese society forever, but rather, it only suggests that the conception is no longer a legal conception, but it still exists in Taiwanese daily life. And now, after reception of western civil law over a century in Taiwan, "family property" has been, in addition to its traditional understanding as "property belongs to a family", added some new senses as "father's personal property" or "patriarch's personal property".