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The Japanese Constitution

The Japanese Constitution image
Parent Issue
Day
25
Month
April
Year
1889
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

"Having, by virtue of the glories of Onr Ancestors, ascended the throne of a lineal succession unbroken for ages eternal; desiringto promote the welfare of and to give developmentto the moral'and intellectaul faculties ofOurbeloved subjects, the very same that have been favored with the benevolent care and affectionate vigilance of Our Ancestors; and hoping to maintain the prosperity of the State in connection with Our people, and with their support, We hereby promúlgate, in pursuance of Our Imperial Rescript of the 12th day of the lOth month of the 14th year of Meiji, a fundamental law of State, to exhibit the principies by which We are to be guided in Our conduct, and to point out to what Our descendanta and Our subjects and their descendants are forever to conform." The foregoing is the first paragraph of the preamble to the new Japanese constitution which lately went into ef: fect, and the adoption of which the Japanese students in Ann Arbor recently celebrated. It is not quite so democratie and simple as "We the people," etc, the immortal preamble to our Federal constitution ; but it may work out prosperity to the progressive Japanese in spite of that. A careful reading of the seventy-six articles of this new constitution suggests two thoughts : 1. That the constitntion is a great step for the Japanese towards liberty; 2. That the Japanese are yet, judging by their printed constitution, far from the condition of a free people. The emperor, or the aristocratie cabal which may influence him, is still the great power in Japan. The limitations placed pon the throne are not trafficient The emperor bas the initiative in making; amendments to the constilution. Thehouse of lords, one branch of their congress, will be wholly in the power of the throne. That great safeguard of the people's liberty, the power of opening the purses of the people for the needs of the government- a power to which the haughty Tudors of England bowed- is not entirely in the bands of the peopie of Japan. Their house of representalivee, to be sure, must be elected by popular suffrage, and is required to meet each year. All increase in taxation and expenditures must first be sanctioned by this lower house of congrees before they are legal ; but the emperor is assured a private income by the con6titution, and should the congress fail to make appropriations for the government's needs n one year, the constitution empowers the government "to carry out the budget of the preceding year." In other words, the Japanese government is sure to have money, except, perhaps, for extraordinary needs, and thus it will not be so quickly responsive to the people's wishes. Vor extraordinary emergencies, when the congress is not in session, the emperor is empowered to "take all necessary financial measures by means of an imperial ordinance," but bis measures must afterwards be submitted to congress for approval. While the aristocracy will really have the largest share of power, yet if they tyrannize over the peopie. they will probably find it necessary to do it under the forms of law, and nothing can be a law to which the people's representaüves do not consent. "No Japanese subject shall be arrested, detained, tried or punished, unless according to law," reads the 23d article, and it marks a great advance, even though the constitution provides for no judiciary like our supreme court, and is otherwise faulty, jndged by our American ideas.

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Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Register