British Court for Japan

Last updated
Her Britannic Majesty's Court for Japan
横浜英国領事裁判所
EstablishedJanuary 1, 1879
Dissolved1900
LocationBritish Consulate General Yokohama
Authorized byBritish extraterritorial jurisdiction
Appeals to British Supreme Court for China and Japan
Number of positionsOne: Judge

The British Court for Japan (formally Her Britannic Majesty's Court for Japan) was a court established in Yokohama in 1879 to try cases against British subjects in Japan, under the principles of extraterritoriality. The court also heard appeals from British consular courts in Japan. [1] Appeals from the British Court for Japan lay to the British Supreme Court for China and Japan based in the Shanghai International Settlement.

Contents

Background

Britain acquired extraterritorial rights in Japan under the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858. British Consular officials sat as judges consular courts in all treaty ports in Japan. Until 1865 appeals from decisions of consular officials were made to the Supreme Court of Hong Kong. From 1865 appeals from decisions could be made to the British Supreme Court for China and Japan in Shanghai. Judges of the Shanghai Supreme Court were also empowered to travel to Japan to try cases on circuit.

Establishment of Court for Japan

In 1871, an attempt was made to establish a branch of the Shanghai Supreme Court in Yokohama by having an acting assistant judge from Shanghai, Nicholas John Hannen, based in Yokohama. Hannen ruled this arrangement to be invalid in 1872. [2] Judges from Shanghai remained in Yokohama but sat as a judge of the Kanagawa Consular Court. In 1877 and 1878 the legality of these arrangements were challenged by the Japanese Government when the acting law secretary, Hiram Shaw Wilkinson, ruled that the import of medicinal opium into Japan was legal. [1] [3] The British Government determined to establish a formal court in Japan.

On 1 January 1879 the British Court for Japan was created in Yokohama. The court had had first instance jurisdiction in Kanagawa and appellate jurisdiction from other consular courts in Japan. Appeals from the Court for Japan lay to Supreme Court in Shanghai. [1]

Court buildings

In Yokohama, the Court for Japan sat in the British Consulate building in Yokohama. The building was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. [4] In other cities, when the Judge of the court went on circuit to outlying cities he would generally sit in courts in British consulate buildings but on occasions where important cases of great public interest were being heard would use other premises.

End of extraterritoriality

Under the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed in 1894, Britain gave up extraterritorial rights in Japan with effect from July 1899. The Court for Japan officially heard its last case, which had been filed before the end of July 1899, in early 1900. [5]

Cases

The court tried cases of all descriptions, all the time applying the laws of England in Japan, including murder trials before juries, divorce cases, commercial disputes and cases of petty theft.

Famous cases were:

Judges

Between 1879 and 1900 the court had 4 full-time judges. [9] The judges were:

From 1871 to 1877 two judges from Shanghai were based in Yokohama.

Between 1865 and 1872, Sir Edmund Grimani Hornby, the Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan also heard cases in Japan when traveling on circuit.

A number of consular officials also sat as acting Judge of the Court for Japan when the Judge was on leave or otherwise unavailable. These included:

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Charles Wycliffe Goodwin

Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817–1878) was an English Egyptologist, bible scholar, lawyer and judge. His last judicial position was as Acting Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan.

Japanese cruiser <i>Chishima</i>

Chishima was an unprotected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The name Chishima is the Japanese name for the Kurile Islands. Chishima was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy as an aviso for scouting, reconnaissance and delivery of high priority messages.

British Japan Consular Service

Britain had a functioning consular service in Japan from 1859 after the signing of the 1858 Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce between James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and the Tokugawa Shogunate until 1941 when Japan invaded British colonial empire and declared war on the United Kingdom.

United States Court for China

The United States Court for China was a United States district court that had extraterritorial jurisdiction over U.S. citizens in China. It existed from 1906 to 1943 and had jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, with appeals taken to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

British Supreme Court for China

The British Supreme Court for China was a court established in the Shanghai International Settlement to try cases against British subjects in China, Japan and Korea under the principles of extraterritoriality.

Hiram Shaw Wilkinson

Sir Hiram Shaw Wilkinson, JP, DL (1840–1926) was a leading British judge and diplomat, serving in China and Japan. His last position before retirement was as Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Corea.

Hiram Parkes Wilkinson

Hiram Parkes "Harrie" Wilkinson, BCL, KC (1866–1935) served as Crown Advocate of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan from 1897 to 1925. He was also Acting Assistant Judge of the British Court for Siam from 1903 to 1905 and Judge of the British High Court of Weihaiwei from 1916 to 1925.

Nicholas John Hannen

Sir Nicholas John Hannen was a British barrister, diplomat and judge who served in China and Japan. He was the Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan from 1891 to 1900 and also served concurrently as Consul-General in Shanghai from 1891 to 1897. He was judge of the British Court for Japan from 1881 to 1891. He was the brother of James Hannen, a noted British judge of the 19th century. His son, Nicholas "Beau" Hannen was a famous actor of the early and mid-20th century.

Havilland de Sausmarez

Sir Havilland Walter de Sausmarez, 1st Baronet was a judge of various British colonial or consular courts in Africa and Asia, the Ottoman Empire and China. His last judicial position before retirement was as Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China. He later served as Bailiff of Guernsey.

Edmund Grimani Hornby

Sir Edmund Grimani Hornby was a leading Jewish-Italian British judge, with family interests in diamond-rich Antwerp. He was the founder and Chief Judge of both the British Supreme Consular Court at Constantinople and British Supreme Court for China and Japan.

Skinner Turner

Sir Skinner Turner was a British judge who served in Africa, Siam and China. His last position was as the Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China from 1921 to 1927.

Peter Grain (judge)

Sir Peter Grain was a British judge who served in Zanzibar, Egypt, Constantinople and China. He was the Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China from 1927 to 1933 and also judge of the High Court of Weihaiwei from 1926 to 1930.

Richard Rennie

Sir Richard Temple Rennie was a British barrister and judge who served in China and Japan. He was the Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan from 1881 to 1891. He was judge of the British Court for Japan from its creation in 1879 to 1881.

Robert Anderson Mowat, was a British judge and diplomat, serving in China and Japan. His last position before retirement was as Judge of the British Court for Japan.

Frederick Samuel Augustus Bourne

Sir Frederick Samuel August Bourne (1854–1940) was a British judge, diplomat and botanist who served in China. His last positions before retirement were concurrently as Assistant Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Judge of the High Court of Weihaiwei.

Penrhyn Grant Jones

Penrhyn Grant Jones CBE (1878–1945) was a British judge and diplomat who served in China. His last position before retirement was as Assistant Judge of the British Supreme Court for China.

George Jamieson (diplomat) British diplomat and judge (1843–1920)

George Jamieson CMG (1843-1920) was a British diplomat and judge who served in China. His last position before retirement from government service was as British Consul-General in Shanghai.

Milton J. Helmick American judge

Milton John Helmick (1885-1954) was Attorney General of New Mexico (1923-1925), a judge in Albuquerque (1925-1934) and the Judge of the United States Court for China (1934-1943).

Consular courts were law courts established by foreign powers in countries where they had extraterritorial rights. They were presided over by consular officers.

Herbert Phillips (diplomat) British diplomat

Sir Herbert Phillips OBE, KCMG, (1878-1957) was a British diplomat who served in China. His last position before retirement from government service was as British Consul-General in Shanghai.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Chang 1984.
  2. ↑ Findlay Richardson & Co vs Pitman & Co, Japan Weekly Mail, 20 July 1872, pp. 445-447
  3. ↑ Reg (on the prosecution of the Imperial Customs) vs John Hartley, Japan Times , 2 March 1878
  4. ↑ "READING ROOM | YOKOHAMA ARCHIVES OF HISTORY". www.kaikou.city.yokohama.jp. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  5. ↑ Kobe Weekly Chronicle, 17 January 1900, p. 47
  6. ↑ "THE CAREW POISONING CASE: IN H.B.M'S. COURT FOR JAPAN BEFORE ME. JUSTICE MOWAT AND A JURY TRIAL OF MRS. W.R.H. CAREW FOR MURDER TWELFTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS CONTINUED FOURTEENTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS THE SIXTEENTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS." North China Herald , 5 February 1897, page 207. Available from ProQuest, accessible from the Wikipedia Library.
  7. ↑ "THE CAREW POISONING CASE: IN H.B.M'S. COURT FOR JAPAN BEFORE MR. JUSTICE MOWAT AND A JURY TRIAL OF MRS. W.R.H. CAREW FOR MURDER SEVENTEENTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS EIGHTEENTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS NINETEENTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS TWENTIETH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS FINAL DAY'S PROCEEDINGS." North China Herald , 12 February 1897, pp. 259-264. Available from ProQuest, accessible from the Wikipedia Library.
  8. ↑ Whittington-Egan, Molly (1996). Murder on the Bluff: Carew Poisoning Case. Neil Wilson Publishing. ISBN   1-89778452-X.
  9. ↑ Sourced from Foreign Office List entries for each individual
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.