On Legal Transplant Of Meiji Restoration Period Of Japan

During the Meiji Restoration, Japan developed and improved its own legal system via legal transplantation. While on the political side, Japan had successfully avoided the crisis of becoming a semi colony of the west world. With its booming economy, Japan had become an Asian power both economically and militarily. To analyze the successful practice of Japan's legal transplantation during this period and to gain some inspiration from it for less developed countries.First, after an analysis of the historical background of the legal transplantation in Japan during the Meiji Restoration, it is described how transformation of political, economic and ideological factors affected this process. This analysis is also used to prove the fact that legal transplantation is not an independent procedure, but closely related to social changes.Second, using the method of presenting and comparing, it takes a close look at the content of the legal transplanting during the Meiji Restoration and digs deeply into Meiji Constitutional Law, Civil Code, Commercial Code, Penal Code, Civil Procedure Law and Criminal Procedure Law, Organic Law of The Courts. After an analysis of how all department laws were drafted and of how contradictions occurred in practice, it is realized that during the Meiji Restoration, the legal transplantation started in the way of"wholesale westernization"and then turned into a process of combination of the native law and the foreign law. It reveals the fact that legal transplantation does not equal to a total copy foreign laws. Not only domestic legal traditions and social acceptability should be taken into account, but also the respect for domestic legal culture should be maintained.Third, with the evidence gained from an analysis of the impact the legal transplantation had on social conditions at that time, that comes to the conclusion that this is a successful legal transplantation. The legal transplantation during Meiji Restoration leaded to the development and completion of Japan's legal system, thus enabled the modernization of Japan's legal system and the fast growth of Japan's economy. It preliminarily accomplished the goal of"Rich Nation, Strong Army"which was set at the beginning of the Meiji Restoration.In addition, the conclusion that major factors that brought the final success of this legal transplantation are choosing the suitable transplanting target, managing conflicts between the foreign law and the native law in a suitable way, having an open-minded leading party who conducted this transplantation and adopting the right localization method.At last, after all the analysis, that are less developed in the legal area. First, from the perspective of the driver of this legal transplantation, it is noticed that not only political and economic factors of this period should be considered, but also the impact from the west world, including the invasion of Japan's territory and cultural impact, especially the legal cultural. The purpose of this analysis is to raise readers'awareness of the fact that legal transplantation is a process caused by both internal and external factors and all those factors have mutual influence on each other. On the other side, the view that the legal transplantation during the Meiji Restoration reveals the conflict process between traditional legal cultural and western legal cultural. It is also an example of how traditional legal culture meets the challenge from foreign legal culture and finally accomplishes a creative transformation. Thus, the question of how to balance between foreign law and native law during the process of legal transplantation needs the attention from all less developed country. The third revelation is about how to keep autonomy during the process. That legal transplantation should be accepted with willingness. This process cannot succeed unless it is pursued with determination. At last, also discusses the relationship between localization and internationalization and releases that legal transplantation should be based on a combination of local resources and internationalization.To conclude, the decision to adopt legal transplantation should only be made in order to comply with the demand and should be based on domestic condition. The conflict between foreign law and native law should be treated in a dialectical way. It is suggested to learn from other countries'advanced legal experience while maintain domestic legal customs at the same time. The combination of foreign resources and the domestic resources is needed in order to conduct legal transplantation in a better way.