Council of Elders. – A separate body, to be placed above the private council, is the council of elders (Genr ō), which has no place in the constitution, but which has had a tremendous influence in the modern history of the nation. The task of the Genr ō is above all to advise the emperor in important matters, for example, in the choice of the new prime minister, after the fall of a cabinet.
State administration. – The administration of the state comprises various bodies, five of which are under the direct control of the emperor; the others constitute the central administrative system. The first are: the private council; the private Chancellery (Naidaijin – fu) which has the administration of what concerns the emperor personally; the Ministry of the Imperial House (Kunai – sh ō), which has the administration of what concerns the family of the emperor; the Council of Marshals (Gensui – fu), who advise the emperor in matters of great importance relating to the army;- in), created in 1887 with the task of advising the emperor in any matter relating to the army and navy.
Central administration. – The central administration is made up of the various ministries, namely: Internal (Naimu – sh ō); Foreign (Gwaimu – sh ō); War (Rikugun – sh ō); Marina (Kaigun – sh ō); Finance (Ō kura – sh ō); Railways (Tetsud ō – sh ō); Justice (Shih ō – sh ō); Education (Mombu – sh ō); Communications (Teishin – sh ō); Agriculture (N ō rin – sh ō); Industry and trade (Sh ō k ō – sh ō); Colonies (Takumu – sh ō).
Outside the aforementioned dicasteries, the following other bodies are also included in the administrative system: the Army General Staff (Rikugun Sanb ō Honbu); the Navy General Staff (Kaigun Gunreibu); the Inspectorate General for Military Education (Rikugun Ky ō iku S ō kanbu); the Tōkyō Defense Command (T ō ky ō Keibi Shireibu); the Court of Auditors (Kwaikei Kensa – in).
Promulgation and application of laws and ordinances. – shall be regulated, as regards the metropolitan territory, the Law of 21 June 1898 on the application of the laws in general, and the Imperial Ordinance of the ° in February 1917, leading the formalities for the promulgation of official regulations. These are distinguished as follows: a) Sh ō sho “imperial proclamation”; b) Chokusho “imperial message”; c) J ō yu “imperial rescript”; this is the formula with which the emperor sanctions and promulgates the laws (h ō or hō ritsu), budgets (yosan), imperial ordinances (chokurei), treaties (j ō yaku), amendments to the statute of the imperial house and the constitution of the empire; d) Kakurei “cabinet ordinances”, which are dated and signed by the prime minister; e) Sh ō reí “ministerial decrees”, which are dated and signed by the branch minister.
According to PLUS-SIZE-TIPS.COM, the official texts of the above provisions are inserted in the Official Journal of the Empire (Kwanp ō). Their entry into force, unless otherwise stated, occurs twenty days after publication, but usually in each provision there is a complementary article that sets the date of application.
Administration of justice. – Japanese ordinary courts are divided into district courts (Ku – saibansho) corresponding to our courts; Provincial Courts (Chih ō saibansho), Courts of Appeal (K ō so – in) and Court of Cassation (Daishinin). These courts know of all civil, commercial and criminal cases. At the end of 1926 there were, in Japan alone, 7 appellate courts, 51 provincial and 281 district courts. The administrative disputes were reserved, by the constitution, to a special court, created with the law of 30 June 1890 on administrative disputes. Conflicts of jurisdiction are decided by the private council (S ū mitsu – in), pending the planned establishment of the Court of conflicts of jurisdiction (Kengen – saibansho). In close connection with the administrative dispute regime, the law of October 10, 1890, on appeals, and the imperial ordinance of April 5, 1917, on petitions should be remembered. Interterritorial conflicts, both in civil and criminal matters, are regulated on the basis of a law of 16 April 1918, modified in 1923. This dictates detailed rules of law common to the various territories that make up the Empire, which are precisely distinguished in: 1. a metropolitan territory (naichi), including Japan proper with the Japanese part (Karafuto) of the island of Sakhalin; 2. Korea (Ch ō sen); 3. Formosa (Taiwan); the rented territory of the Kwantung (Kwant ō – sh ū) and Japanese Micronesia (Nan – yo gunt ō).
All legal procedures done in the courts are oral and the language to be used is usually Japanese. All Japanese male citizens, who can read and write, who pay direct taxes of no less than three yen, and who are over the age of 30, can be sworn in in court. The jury, made up of 12 jurors, is admitted only in the case of crimes punishable with the death penalty, or with prison or forced labor for life.
