Japanese Civil Code | Overview & History of Japanese Law | Britannica (original) (raw)

Japanese Civil Code, body of private law adopted in 1896 that, with post-World War II modifications, remains in effect in present-day Japan. The code was the result of various movements for modernization following the Meiji Restoration of 1868. A legal code was required that would fill the needs of the new free-enterprise system that predominated with the dissolution of feudal landholdings. At the same time, the Japanese desired to present themselves to the world as a more modern nation in hope of renegotiating certain unfavourably balanced and often even humiliating treaties with Western nations. The resulting code was modeled on the first draft of the German Civil Code, itself very Roman in structure and substance.

The code is divided into five books. Those on family and succession retain certain vestiges of the old patriarchal family system that was the basis of Japanese feudalism. It was in these sections that most of the postwar revisions were made. At that time it was considered no longer necessary or desirable to pay such homage to the past, and the sections dealing with family law and succession were brought closer to European civil law.

The writing of the code provoked considerable disagreement among segments of the Japanese legal and commercial communities, largely over how much Japanese custom should be included. There was also disagreement as to whether the code should be based on the French or the English system of law. This disagreement arose from the rather strange position of both those systems in Japanese law schools and courts. After the restoration, law schools had been set up that gave courses in both English and French law. Because of the way the courses and examinations were constructed, it was possible to become a lawyer or judge by knowing only one system of law. In their courtrooms, some judges administered only French law and others only English.

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After the first Japanese Civil Code had been adopted in 1890, with very little debate, a storm of criticism arose from the legal community. This code had been the work of a French jurist, Gustave-Emil Boissonade, who also had written the criminal and penal codes of 1882. Opponents argued that, if the civil code were to be based upon French law, then Japanese lawyers trained in the French system would have an advantage over those trained in the English. Further, the proposed commercial code was based on German laws, and there were many lawyers and persons engaged in commerce who felt there would be confusion if the two codes were based upon different laws.

The code was made into a political issue by those wishing to preserve the old feudalism, who charged that the old customs, particularly the patriarchal family system, had been ignored in the individualistic code of Boissonade. A revised code was produced, based on the first draft of the German Civil Code but giving considerable weight to the old customs, particularly in family and inheritance law. The final German-based code was very similar in most respects to that of Boissonade, both including strong protection for landed property. The code was promulgated in 1896 and went into effect in 1898.