Political+Science

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POLITICAL SCIENCE =====

Japan is a parliamentary government with a constitutional monarchy. The branches of japanese government are Executive--prime minister (head of government). Legislative--bicameral Diet (House of Representatives and House of Councillors). Overseas region became subject to Japanese control from 1895: Taiwan (formosa), Karafuto (south saghalin), Chosen (korea), kanto-shu (kuandung), and nanyo-gunto (south sea islands); these were different judicial area. Judicial--civil law system based on the model of Roman law. Japan's Imperial role is essentially only as a figurehead now, and the Emperor has no defined governmental power. He remains the ceremonial head of state, and presides over ceremonies and represents his nation internationally at public functions that do not require a political presence. The head of government, the Prime Minister, holds real power. In Japan, there are two parliaments: the Upper diet (Sangi-In) and lower diet (Shuugi-In). The Japanese court system is simple because it is not a federal system. There is one Supreme Court, eight high courts and fifty district and family courts. For small crimes (punishable by a fine or lighter punishment) and civil suits (involving claims not exceeding 900,000 yen), 448 summary courts have jurisdiction. []

The early law of Japan was heavily influenced by Chinese law. Chinese law was introduced in the seventh and eighth centuries, continental Europian law in the meiji era, (Anglo-) American law in the 1920s and to a greater extent, after 1945. Before Chinese characters were transplanted and adopted by the Japanese, the Japanese had no alphabet of their own with which to record their history. Chinese characters were known to the Japanese in earlier centuries, but the process of assimilation of these characters into their indigenous language system took place in the third century. Japan's law system has experienced significant effects from foreign institutions three times in history. [|http://books.google.ca/books?id=47yhjgB-XhgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false]

Japanese law, the law as it has developed in Japan as a consequence of a meld of two cultural and legal traditions, one indigenous Japanese, the other Western. Before Japan’s isolation from the West was ended in the mid-19th century, Japanese law developed independently of Western influences. In legal matters the Japanese took for models the systems of continental Europe, especially the German . The drafters of the Japanese Civil Code  of 1896 surveyed many legal systems, including the French, Swiss, and common laws , taking something from each. Their final product is, however, best characterized as following the first draft of the German Civil Code . In its subsequent development the Japanese legal system remained true to these sources. The 1947 revisions of the code provisions dealing with relatives and succession, which had reflected traditional Japanese attitudes, completed the transition of Japanese civil law to the continental European family of laws. In addition, the sociological supports essential to the continued vitality of the Japanese conception of law are being undercut by the shift from a rural, agricultural economy to an urban, mechanized society. [|http://books.google.ca/books?id=47yhjgB-XhgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false]