School of Law
Meiji University Law in Japan Program
The inaugural “Meiji University Law in Japan Program”, a two week program in which participants learn about Japan’s legal system in English, organized by the School of Law was completed from July 27th to August 7th in 2009. In summer this year the program will be held from July 21st to August 3rd. This summer school is part of Meiji University’s undertakings in the framework of the so-called “Global 30 International Educational Institutions in Japan” Meiji was awarded with by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2009.
This program targets foreign participants - not necessarily law students but also students from related disciplines and practitioners - who have a good command of English to grasp the contents of the lectures as well as to participate in discussions. In the two week period, the participants are introduced to many fields of Japanese law such as constitutional, civil, criminal, corporate, labor, competition, tax and international law. The participants not only get a chance to learn about the history, development and changes of the legal system since the Meiji era (1868), but are also familiarized with the socio-cultural context of the Japanese legal system. In addition, there are guided tours to institutions where the law is seen in action, such as parliament, courts, law firms, Ministry of Justice and other government bodies, prisons, law departments of enterprises and so on.
Nowadays English is used as a lingua franca in education and research even in the discipline of law, which is strongly based on its national language. Also the world of practicing lawyers is changing towards internationalization, so that basic knowledge of a foreign legal system has become necessary. This however does not mean that a successful participant in the two weeks program becomes a specialist in Japanese law. The program can only offer a slight view into the Japanese legal system, which has to be broadened by further studies. For this purpose the Graduate School of law at Meiji University is now developing a one year English master of laws (LL.M.) program. This will deepen the necessary knowledge and eventually lead to further studies in the Japanese degree programs of the School of Law, the Graduate School of Law and the Law School of Meiji University, which was founded as a law school already in 1881 and is today among the best 10 universities in Japan to offer legal studies.
