meiji constitution
Today we will introduce about the Meiji Constitution, which was written in Feb 11, 1889 in Japan by Ito Hirobumi, who was appointed by the Emperor of Japan as the prime minister after being designated by the Diet, with a group of other government leaders and several western scholars.
European democratic politics were prevailing at that present, in which citizens, instead of Emperor, have the authority to vote or judge. However, found that a constitution should most fit national conditions and the country’s specific culture, they regarded conservative traditions of Prussia most suitable for Japan. Meiji Constitution and Prussia’s conservative traditions are more like monarchical autocracy and Emperor has absolute dictatorship. Therefore, the sovereignty of Emperor and imperial institutions coexist in this constitution.
As a public and fundamental law of state bestowed on all Japanese people by Emperor Meiji, it established Japan a constitutional monarchy with a parliament called Diet, assuring the Emperor infinite power with assistance of the imperial Diet. It also defined rights and duties of the subjects, and duties of the imperial Diet as well as the Council. Besides, potency of the judicature and the finance are also established in the constitution which made Japan more modern and civilized.
Now let’s probe into detailed information about Meiji Constitution. The first chapter is about absolute authority of the Emperor. From abstract we can see that the Emperor is in charge of the sanction and promulgation of laws as well as convening the Diet. However, imperial Diet have not achieved their role of legislation and resolution. In other words, all departments are under direct sovereignty of the Emperor, with ostensible constitutional monarchy but inside monarchical autocracy. The emperor is also granted supreme command of army and Navy, which leads to the militarism afterwards. As we can see, Emperor’s legitimacy as ruler of Japan came from succession and it
European democratic politics were prevailing at that present, in which citizens, instead of Emperor, have the authority to vote or judge. However, found that a constitution should most fit national conditions and the country’s specific culture, they regarded conservative traditions of Prussia most suitable for Japan. Meiji Constitution and Prussia’s conservative traditions are more like monarchical autocracy and Emperor has absolute dictatorship. Therefore, the sovereignty of Emperor and imperial institutions coexist in this constitution.
As a public and fundamental law of state bestowed on all Japanese people by Emperor Meiji, it established Japan a constitutional monarchy with a parliament called Diet, assuring the Emperor infinite power with assistance of the imperial Diet. It also defined rights and duties of the subjects, and duties of the imperial Diet as well as the Council. Besides, potency of the judicature and the finance are also established in the constitution which made Japan more modern and civilized.
Now let’s probe into detailed information about Meiji Constitution. The first chapter is about absolute authority of the Emperor. From abstract we can see that the Emperor is in charge of the sanction and promulgation of laws as well as convening the Diet. However, imperial Diet have not achieved their role of legislation and resolution. In other words, all departments are under direct sovereignty of the Emperor, with ostensible constitutional monarchy but inside monarchical autocracy. The emperor is also granted supreme command of army and Navy, which leads to the militarism afterwards. As we can see, Emperor’s legitimacy as ruler of Japan came from succession and it