Supreme Court of Japan

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).

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.

Organization of the Court

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 Justices are appointed by the cabinet and attestated by the Emperor.

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. ["Food Staple Management Law Constitutionality Case", 4 Minshu 73 (1950).] 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. ["National Police Reserve Constitutionality Case", 6 Minshu 783 (1952).]

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. [Herbert F. Bolz, "Judicial Review in Japan: The Strategy of Restraint," "Hastings International and Comparative Law Review" 4:87 (1980).]

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. [William Somers Bailey, "Reducing Malapportionment in Japan's Electoral Districts: The Supreme Court Must Act," "Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal" 6:169 (1997).]

Current Justices

ee also

*Politics of Japan
*Japanese law
*Judicial System of Japan
*2008 Decisions of the Supreme Court of Japan

External links

* [http://www.courts.go.jp/english/ Supreme Court of Japan]

Footnotes

loc - [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jptoc.html Japan]