Members of the Japan Society heard at 22 Russell Square, on April 30, the first part of a paper on "Japanese Marriage Law, Past and Present," which was delivered by Mr. ¥. Okuma, Second Secretary at the Japanese Embassy.
Mr. Okuma, speaking of marriage law in the past, said it was based upon the ancient cult of ancestor worship which made imperative that the family should be perpetuated, and marriage re-Presented a union for this purpose. Although in the earliest times men and. woman were on an equal footing the "house-father," the head of the family, gradually increased in power and threw into insignificance the "house-mother." Hence the ascendancy of man over woman, husband over wife. Buddhiiism, also, weakened the position of women. The belligerent age, before the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603, led to a further ascendancy of the male. Any act of disobedience to her husband might involve a wife's dismissal. Christianity had had some influence towards the emancipation of omen, Even in ancient Japan marriage was rear event and consent was necessary from the, heads of both houses concerned. Polygainy was lawful, but not polyandry. "Polygamy was usually treated, however, a8 ble necessity in the lack After the introduction of the Chinese: legal: system there were many changes. A legal status Yas given to. plural wives, who were "in a position similar to servants or slaves, the chief wife having maternal rights over their children, Seven causes of divorce were introduced, or rather consolidated, They ' were sterility, adultery, disobedience to. either ut-in-law, loquacity, larceny, Jealousy, and serious disease. 'The wife was divorced by the husband signing a deed, countersigned by the nearest parents or. grand= parents. The wife could' not in any circumstances divorce her husband, "In the Tokugawa Shogunate 1 civil court of divorce administered by the councils of Buddhist temples was formed, " Divorce was really expulsion from the house, which permitted the wife to remarry, The court came into being to enable the wife to divorce the man if the grounds were adjudged reasonable In 1896 the Civil) Law was codified "as a result of Japan off the Chinese legal yoke restoration of the Meiji, and adopting a new legislative system, similar to those in every civilized country. As law could not be promulgated rapidly enough to meet the exigencies of the new state of things, the Grand Council of State issued an order that civil ceases should be decided by the express. provisions of written lay and where there was no such lay, according to custom. This law Is binding even to-day, and opened the door to an influx of foreign law. Translations of the Cole Napoleon and other Western law books were published, and unprecedented cases were decided by the Western principle of reason and equity, "Tt thus came to pass that the Civil Code in force now wag formed, and is still in. force. Tit its formation the laws of France particularly, and of "Germany, Belgium, "Holland, " Switzerland, Great Britain, the United States, and other "countries were drawn upon, whilst paying due attention native customs and. wen especially in. regard tothe laws relating to ma Of present-day marriage laws the second part of the paper, to be read at a subsequent session, will speak,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.