Continuities of Legal Consciousness:Professor John Haley’s Writings OnTwelve Hundred Years of JapaneseLegal History

Abstract:     
In Authority Without Power: Law and the Japanese Paradox, Professor John Haley stated, “One cannot understand the present without an appreciation of the past and the role of present perceptions of that past. To appreciate the historical dynamics of Japan’s legal tradition is vital both to comprehend more fully the present as well as to predict more accurately the future.”

Working from Professor Haley’s division of the historical process into four major temporal elements — Nara, Kamakura, Tokugawa, and Meiji, this review piece analyzes how aspects of the historical puzzle are evidenced in Japanese legal dynamics today and assessing what we may be able to imagine coming in Japan’s future.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 16

Keywords: Japanese Legal History, Japanese Law and Society, Chinese Legal Tradition, Kamakura Legal Tradition, Tokugawa Legal Tradition, Meiji Law Reforms, John Owen Haley, Authority Without Power

Accepted Paper Series