The Japanese Judiciary
Forthcoming, Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics, Robert Pekkanen & Saadia Pekkanen, eds., New York: Oxford University Press
Harvard John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business, Discussion Paper No. 1007
16 Pages Posted: 20 Jun 2019
Date Written: June 12, 2019
Abstract
In this essay for the Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics, I survey the state of (and the research into) the Japanese judiciary. Japan operates a largely honest and meritocratic judiciary. The court's administrative office (and indirectly, the ruling party) can reward and punish judge for the quality of the work they do -- and has. For the most part, the administrative office uses that capacity to reward good work. It can also use the capacity to punish opposition politics -- but self-selection into the judiciary seems to keep the (perceived) need for that political intervention to a minimum.
Keywords: courts, judicial independence
JEL Classification: K1, K40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation