Supreme Court of Japan

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The Supreme Court of Japan (最高裁判所 Saikō-Saibansho; called 最高裁 Saikō-Sai for short), located in Chiyoda, Tokyo is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority within Japan to interpret the Constitution and decide questions of national law (including local bylaws). It has the power of judicial review (i.e., it can declare Acts of Diet and Local Assembly, and administrative actions, unconstitutional).

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[edit] History

The first Western-style supreme court in Japan was the Supreme Court of Judicature (大審院 Dai-shin'in) organized by the Ministry of Justice in 1875. This court was composed of 120 judges in both civil and criminal divisions. Five judges would be empaneled for any given case. The criminal division of the court was the court of first instance for crimes against the Emperor (e.g. lèse majesté) and for high crimes against public order.

The statute creating the Court was abolished in 1947, and the modern Supreme Court was formed that year under the constitution of 1946. The new court was first convened in May 1947 in the former Privy Council quarters of the Imperial Palace. It moved to the Tokyo District Court building in September, then assumed the former quarters of the Supreme Court of Judicature in October 1949.

In 1974, the Supreme Court moved to its current five-story building at 4-2 Hayabusa-cho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The building was designed by architect Shinichi Okada and won the Architecture Institute of Japan Prize for Design.

[edit] Organization of the Court

Facade of the Supreme Court building
Facade of the Supreme Court building

The constitution's Article 81 designates it "the court of last resort with power to determine the constitutionality of any law, order, regulation, or official act." The Supreme Court is also responsible for nominating judges to lower courts, determining judicial procedures, overseeing the judicial system, including the activities of public prosecutors, and disciplining judges and other judicial personnel. It renders decisions from either a grand bench of fifteen justices or a petit bench of five. The grand bench is required for cases involving constitutionality. The court includes twenty research clerks, whose function is similar to that of the clerks of the United States Supreme Court.

The Chief Justice is chosen by the cabinet (the Prime Minister) and appointed by the Emperor.

The associate judges are appointed by the cabinet and attestated by the Emperor.

[edit] Judicial review

The Supreme Court is the only Japanese court explicitly empowered to review the constitutionality of laws, although it has held that lower courts also have power to interpret the constitution. [1] Unlike constitutional courts in other civil law countries, it only exercises judicial review in cases where there is a genuine dispute between parties, and does not accept questions of constitutionality from government officials. [2]

The Supreme Court is generally reluctant to exercise the powers of judicial review given to it by the constitution, in large part because of unwillingness to become involved in politically sensitive issues. When decisions have been rendered on such matters as the constitutionality of the Self-Defense Forces, the sponsorship of Shinto ceremonies by public authorities, or the authority of the Ministry of Education to determine the content of school textbooks or teaching curricula, the Court has generally deferred to the government.[3]

One important exception to this trend was a series of rulings on the unconstitutionality of the electoral district apportionment system. Although the Court ruled in 1964 that legislative districting was largely a matter of legislative policy, it ruled in 1976 that a 5:1 discrepancy in the voter-to-representative ratio between two districts was an unconstitutional violation of the right to an equal vote.[4]

[edit] Current Justices

Title Name Petty Bench University Background Previous occupation
Chief Justice Niro Shimada Second Tokyo Judge President, Osaka High Court
Justice Kazuko Yokoo First ICU Diplomat Ambassador of Japan to Ireland
Justice Tokiyasu Fujita Third Tokyo Academic Professor, Tohoku University School of Law
Justice Tatsuo Kainaka First Chuo Prosecutor Director, Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office
Justice Tokuji Izumi First Kyoto Judge President, Tokyo High Court
Justice Chiharu Saiguchi First Chūō Attorney Member, Advisory Committee on Civil Rules of the Supreme Court
Justice Osamu Tsuno Second Kyoto Bureaucrat, attorney Director-General, Cabinet Legislation Bureau
Justice Isao Imai Second Kyoto Judge President, Tokyo High Court
Justice Ryoji Nakagawa Second Kanazawa Attorney Vice-President, Japan Federation of Bar Associations
Justice Yukio Horigome Third Tokyo Judge President, Osaka High Court
Justice Yuki Yoshida Second Tokyo Prosecutor Professor, Doshisha University School of Law
Justice Kohei Nasu Third Tokyo Attorney Professor, University of Tokyo School of Law
Justice Norio Wakui First Kyoto Judge President, Osaka High Court
Justice Mutsuo Tahara Third Kyoto Attorney Guest Professor, Kyoto University
Justice Takaharu Kondo Third Tokyo Judge President, Sendai High Court

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Food Staple Management Law Constitutionality Case, 4 Minshu 73 (1950).
  2. ^ National Police Reserve Constitutionality Case, 6 Minshu 783 (1952).
  3. ^ Herbert F. Bolz, "Judicial Review in Japan: The Strategy of Restraint," Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 4:87 (1980).
  4. ^ William Somers Bailey, "Reducing Malapportionment in Japan's Electoral Districts: The Supreme Court Must Act," Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal 6:169 (1997).

This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. - Japan