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JAPAN. 



JAPAN. The Empire of Dai Nippon, or 

 Japan, is a constitutional monarchy, at the head 

 of which is the Emperor, Mutsuhito, born Nov. 

 3, 1852, and reckoned the one hundred and 

 twenty-third in the line of mikados or sov- 

 ereigns of Tei Koku Nippon (" Japan, the coun- 

 try of the theocratic dynasty "). The Empress, 

 Haruko, was born May 29, 1850. Of eleven 

 children born to the Mikado, all by imperial con- 

 cubines, only three are living. A princess was 

 born Jan. 28, 1890, and two princes are living. 

 The crown-prince, or heir-apparent, Haru-no- 

 Miya. was formally invested with the title and 

 dignities of his station Nov. 3, 1889. For some 

 years, after the fire destroyed the imperial resi- 

 dences in Tokio, the Emperor and court had 

 their residence in the mansion of the ex-Daimio 

 of Kiushiu ; but, on Jan. 11, 1889, the removal of 

 the imperial family to the new and splendid pal- 

 ace was accomplished. 



Government. The Japanese national admin- 

 istration is now fully differentiated in the three 

 great forms executive, legislative, and judicial. 

 Associated with the Emperor in the executive 

 are the Imperial Cabinet or Privy Council, con- 

 sisting of 18 members ; a Council of State, con- 

 sisting of 10 heads of administrative depart- 

 ments; and the Bureau of Railways. In 1887 

 there were 213 first-class functionaries appointed 

 by the Emperor, 7,181 assistants of the so-nin 

 class, appointed by the Council of State, and 

 22,729 persons appointed by the heads of depart- 

 ments, making a total of 22,729, or, including 

 the employes of the to-guai class, 31,729. Other 

 subordinate branches of the executive are the 

 prefecture of police, department for the coloni- 

 zation of Yezo, or Hokkaido, the prefectures and 

 districts of the empire, and the under prefect- 

 ures, with officers and subalterns numbering 

 78,186. All these, except 33,686 persons who are 

 paid out of local taxes, draw their salaries from 

 the national treasury, as do also the 53 members 

 of the legations and 91 members of the consu- 

 lates abroad. 



The legislative department consists of an Up- 

 per House, or House of Peers, and a Lower 

 House or House of Representatives, which met 

 for the first time in Tokio in the new and mag- 

 nificent National Assembly buildings, Nov. 25, 

 1890. 



The judiciary consists of 1 Supreme Court, or 

 Court of Cassation, 7 courts of appeal, 99 coiirts 

 of first instance, and 194 peace tribunals. The 

 lower courts have jurisdiction over claims 

 amounting to less than 100 yen, together with 

 criminal jurisdiction over police officers. The 

 courts of first instance deal with cases involv- 

 ing 100 yen or more, with jurisdiction over mi- 

 nor off enses and with power of preliminary exam- 

 ination into both major and minor offenses. The 

 courts of new trials hear appeals from the courts 

 of first instance on questions of law and fact, 

 and sit as courts of criminal jurisdiction for the 

 trial of major offenses. The Court of Cassation 

 hears appeals on points of law, both civil and 

 criminal, whether errors in matters of jurisdic- 



tion, misinterpretation, and misapplication of 

 law, or violation of the rules of procedure. 

 There are are 501 judges in the peace tribunals, 

 673 in the courts of first instance, 70 in the 

 courts of appeals, and 25 in the Court of Cassa- 

 tion, or a total of 301 courts and 1,269 judges. 

 There are also 422 public prosecutors, 1,404 

 clerks and subordinates, and 1.959 employes of 

 various grades, making in all 5,059 persons. 

 There are 193 prisons. 



Japanese law, so far as written, has at no time 

 been the genuine outcome of the national life. 

 In the seventh and later centuries Japan bor- 

 rowed the codes of China, which were formed 

 during the Tang and Sung dynasties. During 

 the era of Meiji, which began in 1868, the legis- 

 lative activity has been very great in the direc- 

 tion of borrowing from Europe. The question 

 of codes has long been involved in the politics of 

 treaty revision, and the able men of Japan are 

 divided into two parties on the question of pro- 

 codification and anti-codification. Those who 

 favor codification are the men in power ; those 

 who oppose it are the so-called "nationalists." 

 The criminal code and the code of criminal pro- 

 cedure, based on the Code Napoleon but modi- 

 fied by the old native criminal law, were drafted 

 by M. Boissonade, an able French lawyer, and 

 published in 1880, coming into force in 1882. 

 The civil code, the code of civil procedure, and 

 the commercial code, are about to be published. 

 Crimes are classified as (1) against the state or 

 imperial family and in violation of the public 

 credit, policy, peace, health, morals, etc. ; (2) 

 against person and property ; (3) police offenses. 

 The subdivision is into major and minor crimes. 

 The punishments for major crimes are death by 

 hanging, deportation with or without hard labor 

 for a term of years or for life, and imprisonment 

 with or without hard labor for a term or a life- 

 time. Minute statistics of public justice are 

 published annually. In 1889 the sentences were : 

 To death, 66 persons; to penal servitude, 716; 

 confinement, 1,138 ; imprisonment, 86,726 ; cor- 

 rectional fines, 24,364 ; attachment, 641 ; fines, 

 2,945 ; confiscation, 3. The number of persons 

 acquitted was 7,879. The system of trial in both 

 civil and criminal cases is almost wholly inquis- 

 itorial. Counsel do not so much defend their 

 clients as represent them, and questions by coun- 

 sel must be put through the judge, who con- 

 ducts the trial alone. Witnesses are sworn, but 

 the oath, being unconnected with any religious 

 sanction, is rather a solemn asseveration. The 

 proceedings of the trial are recorded in writing, 

 though not in the exact words used, as the Jap- 

 anese literary style does not adjnit the collo- 

 quial. At present the judges are almost wholly 

 men trained in the old procedure that was in use 

 before the introduction of foreign systems, their 

 knowledge of the customs and peculiarities of 

 their countrymen serving them better than the 

 more theoretical knowledge of the rapidly in- 

 creasing army of young lawyers. Judges are ap- 

 pointed for life, their salaries varying from 700 

 to 4,000 yen per annum. The president of the 



