Book Description

Excerpt from The New Japanese Civil Code: As Material for the Study of Comparative Jurisrudence; A Paper Read at the International Congress of Arts and Science, at the Universal Exposition, Saint Louis 1904 In responding to the call of the Committee of the Congress to deliver a lecture on Comparative Law, I have, for reasons which will not be far to seek, taken the new Japanese Civil Code as the subject of my discourse. If, at the outset, I may be allowed to use a paradoxical expression in characterizing that law-book, I should say that "the East and the West, the Past and the Present meet in the new Japanese Civil Code." I mean that the codification of private law in Japan was the result of the great political and social revolution, which followed the opening of the country and the introduction of Western ideas; so that the Code embodies in itself both archaic and modern elements on the one hand, and Oriental and Occidental elements on the other. It is, so to speak, a connecting link between the Past and the Present, between the East and the West, and stands at the cross-roads of historical and comparative jurisprudence. It is, on that account, peculiarly interesting to scientific jurists, as supplying them with materials which few other systems can furnish. It will be my endeavour, in this lecture, to show the effect which the contact of the Western civilization with that of the East has produced on the civil law of the country, thereby illustrating some of the leading principles of the evolution of law by reference to the rules of the Code. The scope of my lecture being so wide, and the time for its delivery being limited, I shall confine myself to those characteristic features of the Code, which are not usually found in Occidental jurisprudence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.