COMPARATIVE STUDY: THE NEW LEGISLATION OF FOREIGN-RELATED CIVIL JURISDICTION IN JAPAN

Abstract

The Japanese Civil Procedure Code has been amended several times since its promulgation in 1890, which is currently in effect from June 1996. But the Procedures Code has not made explicit provisions on foreign-related civil jurisdiction. In the previous cases, the Japan Supreme Court ("Supreme Court") established that the practice of establishing jurisdiction over international civil and commercial cases by the application of domestic civil jurisdiction provisions clearly complies with the procedural justice while in the latter case, the Supreme Court established the principle of special circumstances in a foreign-related case. Although the Japanese court has jurisdiction over the analogy or principle of domestic civil jurisdiction rules, the courts should not exercise jurisdiction if there are other special circumstances. This is based on the two precedents of the Supreme Court, through the legal development by Japanese courts, many binding precedents has been formed in the rules of international civil jurisdiction of Japanese courts, and two conditions (or steps) have been established to determine the foreign civil jurisdiction of Japanese courts. First, the Japanese court has jurisdiction over a foreign-related civil case in accordance with Articles 4 - 12 of the Domestic Civil Jurisdiction Rules. Secondly, there is no special case that violates the concept of fairness and procedural justice between the parties.