Self
Law is the whole of permissive, regulatory and prohibitive rules that regulate relations between individuals or between individuals and the state and are subject to sanctions. The sum of the ideas, opinions, attitudes and values of the people who make up that society in a society is called the legal culture. When distinguishing legal systems, it is necessary to know the historical foundations, social culture and legal techniques well. Under the influence of different legal systems, Japanese law did not give up its own values and did not lose its essence while adding new developments to itself. The Japanese legal system is not subject to a specific legal system. Japanese law is a hybrid legal system.
Entry
While quoting law from the West, the Japanese did not give up on their own customs. In general, Japanese law is a hybrid legal system shaped by different legal systems. This system was first influenced by the Chinese political and legal system in the second half of the seventh century and the eighth century.1 In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the basic codes in Japan were borrowed from Continental Europe.2 The Constitution of Japan is basically based on three principles: People's sovereignty, respect for fundamental human rights and renunciation of war.
1. SIX LAW OF THE MODERN JAPANESE LEGAL SYSTEM
The modernization of Japanese law by transferring from the law of western countries began with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the Emperor of Japan officially regained power. The first major regulation adopted in Japan was the Penal Code of 1880. Then the Constitution of the Empire of Japan in 1889, the Commercial Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Code of Civil Procedure in 1890; The Civil Code was adopted in 1896 and 1898. These changes were called roppo (six laws), and this phrase later became used for all written law of Japan.3 Today, six laws; Civil Code (民法 Minpō, 1896), Commercial Code (商法 Shōhō, 1899), Criminal Code (刑法 Keihō, 1907), Japanese Constitution (日本国憲法 Nippon-koku-kenpō, 1946), Criminal Procedure Code (刑事訴訟法 Keiji) -soshō-hō, 1948), Code of Civil Procedure (民事訴訟法 Minji-soshō-hō, 1996).
2. CASE LAW
In the civil law system of Japan, court case law is practically a non-binding guide to how laws should be interpreted.
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3. JAPANESE CIVIL LAW (民法 Minpō, 1896)
The Meiji Government sought to Westernize the Japanese legal system in order to save Japan from the treaties with unequal provisions that the Tokugawa Shogunate4 signed with the United States and European countries. This period, in which the basic codes were taken from the West in Japan, is called the "Meiji Restoration". The first three books of the Japanese Civil Code (general provisions, law of obligations and property law) characterized the Japanese Civil Code under the influence of the German Civil Code. Regulations on family law and inheritance law are arranged according to Japanese customs and traditions. The working group, which supports the common law legal system despite objections to the law, made an amendment by emphasizing that customary law is an important source of law. The Japanese Civil Code was adopted by the Japanese Parliament in 1896 as Law No. 89 and entered into force as a whole on July 16, 1898.
3.1. JAPANESE CUSTOM LAW
Provisions regarding Japanese customary law are regulated in Article 92 of the Japanese Civil Code. According to the article, in the absence of a mandatory rule of law, Japanese customary law is applied within the discretion of the judge. There are still opinions in the doctrine about the application of customary law in the concrete case, even if it is against the mandatory legal rules in some cases.
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3.2. JAPANESE LAW OF CONTRACT
It is the law that is mostly based on the Civil Code and defines the rights and obligations of the parties in general and in some types of contracts in particular. In Japanese law, if there is no rule in written law or customary law regarding a dispute in a contract, the disputes are resolved with “jori”5. The basic principles of Japanese contract law can be defined as the principle of limiting the rights arising from private law on the grounds of public welfare, the rule of good faith, the principle of freedom of contract based on the autonomy of will, and the liability for fault.
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3.3. TORT ACTIONS
The low number of tort cases is due to the availability of non-litigation methods in Japan to assess flaws, inform victims of their rights, calculate the appropriate amount of compensation, and ensure payment.
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