Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2001
Abstract
In the late 1920s and 1930s Japan had a jury system. It was suspended in 1943 as a wartime measure, but it had fallen into desuetude long before that. Arguably it was like the Spanish jury, which has several times risen during periods of relative political liberalism or populism and been suppressed during periods of militarism and autocracy. That is, it may be more than a coincidence that use of the Japanese jury fell precipitously during the 1930s as militarism took hold of the Japanese nation. Now the reinstatement of the Japanese jury is again being seriously considered. Similarly it may not be coincidental that this reconsideration is occurring at a time when the postwar hegemony of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party is disintegrating or that the most formidable opponent of reintroducing a jury to Japan appears to be the Japanese Supreme Court and other leaders of the Japanese Judicial Establishment, many of whom are a legacy of the L.D.P.'s political domination.
Recommended Citation
Lempert, Richard O. "Citizen Participation in Judicial Decision Making: Juries, Lay Judges and Japan." St. Louis-Warsaw Transatlantic Law Journal 2001-2002 (2001): 1-14.