The Civil Code of Japan compared with
the French Civil Code.
By Kazuo Hatoyama, LL.D.
William L. Storrs, Lecturer in the Yale Law School, 1901–2.
(Continued from April Issue.)
IV.
Book I. — General Provisions.
Capacity. — The French Code fixes the age of majority at twenty-one for both sexes (Art. 388). The Japanese Code fixes it at twenty. In Japan in feudal times the Samurai was expected to render military service at fifteen. According to the conscription laws which are now in force the duty of every subject to render military service commences at the age of twenty. It will thus be seen that the framers of the Japanese Code simply followed the existing law.
The French Code recognizes a middle status between minors and persons of full majority, which may be called emancipated minority (Book I, tit. X, ch. III). Such emancipation may take place by the marriage of minors or by the declaration of the father or in the absence of the father, the declaration of the mother, in favour of minors who have reached the age of fifteen. In the German Code majority is fixed at twenty, but minors who have reached the age of eighteen may be declared to be of full capacity by decree of court. These exceptions are founded on necessity and in some shape are found in the legislation of nearly all countries. Japan has chosen to leave it to the discretion of minors’ legal representatives, to authorize minors to administer their own property or to transact business without any interference on the part of the courts (Arts. 5, 6). The legal representatives may define the sphere of action permitted to the minors, and they may withdraw the authorization after granting it, if they believe that the franchise works harm to the minors. We have, in my opinion, selected a plan which on the one hand is simple and on the other meets all requirements.
