Japanese Legal Materials
Introduction
The modern Japanese legal system is an eclectic one based largely on the Anglo-American tradition, with some hangovers from the 19th century when French and German legal systems had great influence. Japan operates under the so-called Six Codes (Roppo). These are:
- the Constitution (the primary document governing legal and political relationships)
- the civil code
- the code of civil procedure
- the penal code
- the code of criminal procedure
- the commercial code
The whole judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, 8 high courts, 50 district courts, 50 family courts and 575 summary courts. All courts are administered by the Supreme Court, separate from the executive and legislative organs of government. Its power of judicial review extends to judging the validity of all laws and official acts. However, this power is seldom used.
In settling a dispute, recourse is also had to examining the laws of other countries for hints, while customary law (going back to feudal times and often quite different from modern law) is heavily intertwined. The legal system is well suited to out-of-court settlement. The Japanese public has ready access to information about law and legal concerns through widely circulated magazines, newspapers and books. Nearly all judges, prosectuors and lawyers receive training in the Supreme Court's Legal Training and Research Institute, entrance to which is via highly competitive national law exams.
Prior to the present system the legal system was that established during the Meiji period (1868-1912) when Japan modernised from a feudal state by adopting and adapting Western systems. This legal system, heavily influenced by French and German law with little of the rule of law, lasted until the end of World War 2. The legal system was revised under the Allied Occupation. This revision included the rewriting of the Constitution.
Between 1500 and 1868 the country was governed by feudal codes designed to support an absolutist military government while before that, (7th century to 1500) the code was largely based on Chinese law centred around a supreme emperor.
The National Library Japanese Law Collection
Law is one of the Library's main areas of collecting, according to the shared acquisition agreement with Australian National University (ANU) Library. It is chiefly a modern collection though premodern laws and legal systems are covered.
Monographs
These consist of reference tools such as bibliographies and dictionaries as well as collections of laws (criminal, civil, international, commercial, etc.); commentaries, studies and histories of various types of laws; source materials such as biographies and memoirs and the collected works of legislators and judges.
Most of these works were published from the mid 19th century to date. However, there are also collections and studies of feudal and ancient laws, some on microfilm, others in reprint form.
One of the main topics is constitutional law, a popular field of study and debate in Japan. The Library's holdings cover both the present (1946) constitution and the Meiji constitution (1889). The Library holds, among other things, the works of the government committee established to create a new constitution after World War 2 and also a facsimile of the draft (with corrections) of the 1889 constitution in Ito Hirobumi's own hand.
Another popular topic is commerical law in all its ramifications (maritime, company, etc. law). Also covered is international law which includes war crime trials and treaties (collections of which go back to the last century). Civil and criminal law is also collected, including accounts of well known criminal cases, especially those involving the burakumin (outcastes) problem. There are also guides to types of laws, e.g. taxes.
In addition there is an extensive collection of works relating to Japan's government including parliament and government administration. Imperial rescripts (which had the force of law until the end of World War 2) are also well covered, along with army and navy regulations.
Serials
These are divided into government and non-government.
- Government
The government serials are received on exchange from the National Diet Library in Tokyo. This is the largest collection of Japanese government publications in the southern hemisphere. They are arranged according to ministry. Law- related serials are chiefly to be found in the Ministry of Justice (Homusho) and the Supreme Court (Saiko Saibansho). Almost complete runs are held of the government gazette, including its earlier incarnation as the Dajokan nisshi in the mid- 19th century, also proceedings of the Diet, including indexes, and reprints of the reports of the Privy council (Sumitsuin).
Important titles include: Saiko Saibansho hanreishu (Supreme Court precedents), Toki no horei (Laws and ordinances of the day), Horei zensho (Collection of laws, treaties, ordinances, regulations, departmental directives, etc. passed through the Japanese parliament, published monthly, with indexes), Index to legal periodicals (published annually by the Ministry of Justice), and various government white papers (hakusho).
- Non-Government
These can be further subdivided into university publications and commercial publications.
The Library has a good coverage of university publications on subscription. These include the Osaka law review, The comparative law journal, The Kyoto law review, The Meiji law review, the Chuo law review and The Waseda law review.
Among the commercial titles, Hanrei jiho is important because it lists cases and precedents from the Supreme Court. Other useful titles include Jurisuto (Jurist), Journal of the Jurisprudence Association, Hogaku seminar, Junkan shoji homu(Commercial law review), Keiho zasshi (Journal of criminal law), Kokusaiho gaiko zasshi (Journal of international law and diplomacy), Minshoho (Journal of civil and commercial law), Shiho (Journal of private law), Horitsu jiho, and Zeihogaku (Tax jurisprudence).
Probably the most important is the annual, Iwanami dai roppo (formerly entitled Iwanami roppo zensho) which gives the text of all the Japanese laws under the Six Codes (roppo) hence the name. It also covers international law. This is published by Iwanami Shoten.
As with the monographs, some of the serials date to the last century and we have a complete run of Horei zensho.
