JAPANESE CIVIL CODE 377 



of European nations, American Indians, African negroes, Australians, 

 and Chinese. 



All these three methods of comparison, which I have mentioned 

 above, are useful and legitimate methods of investigating the prin- 

 ciples of law; and none of them can be rejected to the exclusive 

 adoption of the other. But I think another method can be added to 

 the list, which, though not hitherto employed, may be very advan- 

 tageously adopted in the investigations of general principles of law. 

 I mean a method which takes for the unit of comparison a certain 

 group of laws having a common lineage or descent. If we examine the 

 laws of different countries which have made a certain progress in 

 civilization, we shall find that the law of each country consists of 

 two elements; namely, the indigenous element and the foreign element; 

 and except in uncivilized or barbarous communities which have no 

 intellectual intercourse with other countries, instances are very rare 

 in which the law of any country is found consisting exclusively of 

 indigenous elements. With the progress of means of communication 

 and the consequent increase of intercourse among different peoples, 

 the exchange, not only of material but also of intellectual products, 

 becomes greater; and in regard to law, it may be laid down as a 

 general rule that the higher the community stands in the scale of 

 civilization, the greater is the proportion of the foreign to the in- 

 digenous element. This comes from what is called the reception or 

 adoption of foreign laws. 



Now, when the rules or principles of law of one country are adopted 

 in another, there arises a sort of kinship between the laws of those 

 two countries. One is descended from the other, and the relationship, 

 as it were, of ancestor and descendant is created between them. The old 

 law which served as a model or source of the new law may be called 

 the "Parental Law" or " Mother-law" in relation to the new, which 

 stands in a filial relation to the parental law. 



The law of one country may be adopted in other countries directly, 

 as Roman law was received in Germany, or indirectly, that is, it may 

 be first adopted in one country, and then through that country it 

 may be received in the third, as European law, which has first been 

 received in Japan, and is now being introduced through her into China 

 and Corea. Or again, the law of a mother country may be extended 

 to her colonies or dependencies, as in the case with English law in 

 British colonies. 



In this way, the laws of all civilized countries may be divided 

 into several groups, each comprising laws of many countries, but 

 having common features and characteristics owing to their com- 

 mon origin. These different groups may be compared one with 

 another, in order to find out uniformities and divergencies among 

 them, and thus establish general principles of law. This method of 



