The Reform Council's final report was guided by the fundamental principle of the rule of law, and the report itself makes repeated use of the phrase rule of law. Accordingly, the expansion of the rule of law constitutes one of the basic philosophies of the report. The concept of the rule of law in Japan seems to be the same as that in other countries; it primarily addresses judicial control over governmental power. This emphasis on the rule of law indicates that the Reform Council was well aware of the deficiencies of the Japanese justice system in the vertical situation. |
The final report is also based on a number of other concepts. Besides the rule of law, it makes use of several additional principles and keywords, all of which stem from dissatisfaction with the traditional system.
(a) From a governed subject to a governing subject
The first of these is the concept of from a governed subject to a governing subject. Although it does not explicitly say so, this wording indirectly indicates that the final report understands that Japanese people are governed by somebody else. According to this idea, who governed Japanese people in the past? The report does not specify any concrete information in this regard, but the answer to the question seems to be the government, and in particular the Japanese bureaucracy.
(b) From a society of excessive advance-control/adjustment to one of after-the-fact review/remedy
This expression must be read together with both the wording of paragraph (a) and the rule of law. Prior regulation by the government had been one of the major characteristics of Japanese society. With the process of deregulation in the 1990s, this system of prior regulation has already been replaced or will be replaced with the ex-post regulation system. After this change takes place, a justice system composed of both judicial institutions and the legal profession should be responsible for ex-post regulation.
(c) User-friendly justice
Thirdly, the concept of user-friendly justice is another keyword used in the final report. The Japanese justice system was not kind to its users, who included both Japanese people and businesses. The unfriendliness surrounding various aspects of the justice system has prevented people from enjoying easy access to it.
(d) Doctors for people's social lives
Members of the legal profession are regarded as doctors for people's social lives in the final report, which stresses the importance of the legal profession. By using the word "doctor," the final report indicates that Japan should create a justice system in which people would contact attorneys much more often than in the past.
(e) Establishment of a popular base
According to the final report, it is necessary to create a setup that will take root with the Japanese people in order to strengthen the justice system. For this purpose, the report refers repeatedly to people's participation in the justice system. This is based on the idea that the system must obtain more support from the people in order to give the judiciary a more important role.
All these principles address the reinforcement of the justice system in Japan, and are aimed at narrowing the gaps between the system's consumers (namely people and companies) and the system itself.
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The final report stated that its proposed Justice System Reform would consist of three major pillars, which are briefly examined below.
(a) Construction of a Justice System that Responds to Public Expectations
Under this rather abstract heading, the final report submits two more concrete targets to be achieved in the reform process. The first is to enhance people's access to the justice system, and the second is to achieve the speeding up of court procedures in civil as well as criminal cases.
(b) Expansion of the Human Base
Secondly, the final report proposes drastic reform of the legal profession in Japan. The major issue is to increase the number of lawyers. The target figure for successful applicants in the final report is fixed as 3,000 per year by about 2010. The increased number of lawyers must be combined with a new system of university education. Under the final report, the new system will be a combination of the three elements of legal education at professional law schools, a national bar examination and apprenticeship training at the Legal Research and Training Institute (LTTI). In addition to these two innovative proposals, a number of other suggestions including reform of the career judiciary can be found in the final report.
(c) Establishment of a Popular Base: A new lay participation system for criminal proceedings
The final report emphasizes the importance of popular participation in the justice system. It states that every aspect of the justice system should be targeted by the reform in this regard, but the most striking reform will involve criminal procedures. The report proposes the introduction of a quasi-jury system (known as the saiban-in system) to criminal procedures for various serious offenses such as murder and robbery. Under this system, six laypersons chosen at random from the general public and three professional judges are expected to work together to decide the case.
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The scope of subjects covered by the final report is very wide, which indicates the seriousness and extent of the deficiencies of the traditional justice system. If all the proposals of the report are fully implemented, the Japanese justice system will undergo a total renovation.
The following chapters clarify how these proposals have been implemented and are still being implemented.
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