Japanese law is complicated, unsurprisingly. Getting this done in the US, for example, only had to deal with 242 or so years of legal precedence. Japan has been around for a lot longer.
US Common Law directly traces its lineage to English Common Law, which in turn has its roots in Anglo-Saxon law. Courts still occasionally cite centuries old English legal cases.
That’s mostly for inspiration. English Common Law, the Magna Carta, etc., have no legal bearing in US courts.
Japanese courts have a millennium of history of legal precedent and jurisprudence to consider in their decision, and nothing from the west has anything to do with it.
Eh the Japanese pretty much imported the BGB wholesale, a metric fuckton of countries have civil and criminal codes that root in either the French or German traditions. Their system is also generally firmly rooted in civil law, that is, precedent is non-binding.
This is mostly a case of politicians not wanting to stir controversy, I think: While most Japanese would be in favour it’s a change and on top of that a change that would really piss off a minority so in the interest of conflict averseness the can is getting kicked down the road.
Justice Alito cited the 13th century English legal treatise De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae when he allowed states to ban abortion so I guess it’s pretty inspiring.
Add comment