Makers of Japan

Name: Makers of Japan
Author: Morris, J. (John) (Writer on Japan)

Morris, J. (John) (Writer on Japan)

Japan -- Biography

The Emperor is the repository of the supreme power inherited from the
glorious spirits of the Imperial Founder of his House, and of a line of
Imperial ancestors, and it is by virtue of that inherited power that he
promulgates (11th February 1889), the immutable fundamental law of the
Constitution. The person of the Emperor is sacred and inviolable. It is
with the consent of the Imperial Parliament or Diet that he exercises
the legislative power, sanctioning and promulgating laws, and when the
Diet is not sitting he issues ordinances with the force of laws, to be
confirmed at the next session. He convokes and prorogues the Diet and
dissolves the Lower House. He appoints and dismisses all officials, civil
and military,—he has absolute command of the army and navy,—he declares
war, makes peace, and concludes treaties,—he may declare a state of
siege,—and he confers titles of nobility and other marks of honour. The
rights of the monarch being thus defined, we come to the rights of the
subject. “No Japanese subject shall be arrested, detained, tried, or
punished, unless according to law. The rights of property, conditionally
on the payment of taxes, are to be inviolable. Liberty of speech and of
publication, of public meeting and association, and of petition, so long
as the limits of the law are not transgressed, are fully secured.” In the
same way religion, “within limits not prejudicial to peace and order,” is
free.

The Imperial Diet comprises a House of Peers and a House of
Representatives. In the first are five classes,—(_a_) Members of the
Imperial Family, (_b_) Princes and Marquises, (_c_) Counts, Viscounts,
and Barons, elected as representatives of the several orders, the
representatives of each order not exceeding one-fifth of that order,
(_d_) persons nominated, for life, by the Emperor on account of
meritorious service to the State, or of erudition, (_e_) persons elected
for seven years by and from the fifteen highest tax-payers in each city
and prefecture, and subsequently nominated by the Emperor. The number
of members from the last two classes is not to exceed the number of
representatives of the hereditary nobility.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Makers of JapanMorris, J. (John) (Writer on Japan)

History

Makers of Japan

Morris, J. (John) (Writer on Japan)

Japan -- Biography

The Emperor is the repository of the supreme power inherited from the
glorious spirits of the Imperial Founder of his House, and of a line of
Imperial ancestors, and it is by virtue of that inherited power that he
promulgates (11th February 1889), the immutable fundamental law of the
Constitution. The person of the Emperor is sacred and inviolable. It is
with the consent of the Imperial Parliament or Diet that he exercises
the legislative power, sanctioning and promulgating laws, and when the
Diet is not sitting he issues ordinances with the force of laws, to be
confirmed at the next session. He convokes and prorogues the Diet and
dissolves the Lower House. He appoints and dismisses all officials, civil
and military,—he has absolute command of the army and navy,—he declares
war, makes peace, and concludes treaties,—he may declare a state of
siege,—and he confers titles of nobility and other marks of honour. The
rights of the monarch being thus defined, we come to the rights of the
subject. “No Japanese subject shall be arrested, detained, tried, or
punished, unless according to law. The rights of property, conditionally
on the payment of taxes, are to be inviolable. Liberty of speech and of
publication, of public meeting and association, and of petition, so long
as the limits of the law are not transgressed, are fully secured.” In the
same way religion, “within limits not prejudicial to peace and order,” is
free.

The Imperial Diet comprises a House of Peers and a House of
Representatives. In the first are five classes,—(_a_) Members of the
Imperial Family, (_b_) Princes and Marquises, (_c_) Counts, Viscounts,
and Barons, elected as representatives of the several orders, the
representatives of each order not exceeding one-fifth of that order,
(_d_) persons nominated, for life, by the Emperor on account of
meritorious service to the State, or of erudition, (_e_) persons elected
for seven years by and from the fifteen highest tax-payers in each city
and prefecture, and subsequently nominated by the Emperor. The number
of members from the last two classes is not to exceed the number of
representatives of the hereditary nobility.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Makers of Japan

Makers of Japan

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