Law of Japan - Sources of Law

Sources of Law

The present nation and its legal system are constituted by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1946 after the Second World War.The Japanese Constitution contains thirty-one articles relating to human rights and it provides for the separation of three powers: Legislative, Executive and Judicial power.

In Japan, there are two parliaments: the Upper diet (Sangi-In) and lower diet (Shuugi-In). The Japanese court system is simple because it is not a federal system. There is one Supreme Court, eight high courts and fifty district and family courts. For small crimes (punishable by a fine or lighter punishment) and civil suits (involving claims not exceeding 900,000 yen), 448 summary courts have jurisdiction. Statutory law originates in Japan's legislature, the National Diet of Japan, with the approval of the Emperor as a formality. Under the current constitution, the Emperor does not have the power to veto or otherwise refuse to approve a law passed by the Diet.

The Modern Japanese Legal System's Six Codes

The modernisation of Japanese law by transplanting law from Western countries began after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, in which the Japanese Emperor was restored to political power.

The first major legislation enacted in Japan was the Criminal Code of 1880, followed by the Constitution of the Empire of Japan in 1889, the Commercial Code, Criminal Procedure Act and Civil Procedure Act in 1890 and the Civil Code in 1896 and 1898. These were called the roppo (six codes) and the term began to be used to mean the whole of Japan's statute law. The roppo thus included administrative law of both central and local government and international law in the treaties and agreements of the new government under the emperor (in addition to former agreements with the United States and other countries, which had been entered into by the Tokugawa Bakufu).

The six codes are now:

1. The Civil Code (民法 Minpō, 1896)
2. The Commercial Code (商法 Shōhō, 1899)
3. The Criminal Code (刑法 Keihō, 1907)
4. The Constitution of Japan (日本国憲法 Nippon-koku-kenpō, 1946)
5. The Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法 Keiji-soshō-hō, 1948)
6. The Code of Civil Procedure (民事訴訟法 Minji-soshō-hō, 1996)

Japan, as with other leading Asian economies such as Taiwan and Thailand, has retained its Commercial Code, but has chosen to enact numerous special laws as well as to amend the Code. Japanese commercial law is also characterised by a relationship with the bureaucracy that is important in determining how those engaged in commerce conduct business.