Japan's Maritime Law Reform in an International and Regional Context

• Author: Souichirou Kozuka
• Position: Professor of law, Gakushuin University (Tokyo). The author appreciates Manami Sasaoka and Gen Goto for their useful comments on the draft of this paper. The author's research has been funded by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), Grant no.15H01917
• Pages: 125-133

(2016) 30 ANZ Mar LJ

125

JAPAN’S MARITIME LAW REFORM IN AN INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL

CONTEXT

So uic hiro u Kozuka*

1 Introduction

The reform of maritime and transport law has been on the legislative agenda in Japan since a few years. First

codified in 1899 as part of the Commercial Code, the Japanese maritime and transport law is the oldest in Asia.

However, it has remained as originally enacted with only minimal amend ments for more than a century, and is

now one of the most outdated maritime laws in the region.1 During the last two decades, the People’s Republic of

China enacted its Maritime Law in 1993, Viet nam made a comprehensive reform of its maritime law in 2005, and

more recently, the Republic of Korea amended its maritime law i n 2008. It was no longer possible for Japan to

neglect modernising its maritime and transport law.

Prior to the commencement of the reform on maritime and transport law, the Japanese government worked on the

modernisation of contract law part (‘law of obligations’) of the Civil Code. The work started as a private study by

the group of academics, then developed into an official examination by the Legislative Council of the Ministry of

Justice. The Council’s report formed a basis of the Bill to amend the Civil Code, which is now pending before the

Diet. It took ten years to go through the whole of this process2. Though the time spent was much shor ter, the

reform process for the maritime and transport law has apparently followed that of the Civil Code very closely. In

the case of the maritime and transport law reform, the process started by forming a private Research Group, which

consisted mainly of academics, but was also joined by several officials of the Ministry of Justice. Their

participation implied that its work was expected to be a preliminary study to prepare for the official deliberations.

The Research Group was formed in 2011 and focused mainly on comparative study of other countries’ laws. After

its work was concluded with a Report in 2012, a Study Group was established. The Study Group was also a private

body led by academics, but it was more obvious that its activity was part of the government’s legislative process,

since industry representatives and maritime lawyers were among members and observers. Relevant government

officials (mainly those of the Ministr y of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) also attended the meetings as

observers. The Study Group published its Report in November 2013. In the mea ntime, a few of the academic

members of the Study Gro up made a survey of the industry practice at the request of t he Ministry of Justice, which

was also made public in March 2013.3

Based on these preparatory works, the Legislative Council established a Committee on Commercial Law

(transport and maritime law) in April 2014 and started deliberations to respond to the consultation by the Minister

of Justice. The Report of the Study Group became the primary material for the Committee’s work, and determined

issues and scope of deliberatio ns. The Committee published the Interim Report in March 2015, accompanied by

the Explanatory Note by the Ministry of Ju stice.4 After seeking for public comments on the Interim Report, the

work of the Committee resumed, and was concluded in January 2016 with the publication of the Draft Outline of

the Reform. The Legislative Council approved it as the O utline of the Reform and reported it to the Minister of

Justice. The Outline of Reform is going to b e drafted into a bill to amend the Commercial Code. It is anticipated

that the bill will be submitted to the Diet probably in 2017.

The modernisation of the maritime and transport law forms a part of Japan’s legislative efforts on overall reform

of basic private laws. In early 1990’s, the basic private law codes, namely the Civil Code, Commercial Code and

Civil Procedure Code, as well as some important statutes, such as the Bankruptcy Act and Corporate

Reorganisation Act, retained the structure of decades ago, updated by only piecemeal amendments and

* Professor of law, Gakushuin University (Tokyo). The author appreciates Manami Sasaoka and Gen Goto for their useful comments on the

draft of this paper. The author’s research has been funded by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), Grant no.15H01917.

1 For these backgrounds, see Tomotaka Fujita, Maritime Law Reform in Japan, CMI Yearbook 2014, p.413.

2 For the reform process of the Civil Code that preceded the reform of maritime law, see Souichirou Kozuka & Luke Nottage, ‘Policy and

Politics in Contract Law Reform in Japan’, in Maurice Adams and Dirk Heirbaut (eds) The Method and Culture of Comparative Law (Hart

Publishing, 2014). The overview of the Civil Code reform is offered by Akira Kamo, ‘Crystallization, Unification, or Differentiation?: The

Japanese Civil Code (Law of Obligations) Reform Commission and Basic Reform Policy (Draft Proposals)’ (2010) 24(1) Columbia Journal

of Asian Law 171; Takashi Uchida, ‘Contract Law Reform in Japan and the Unidroit Principles’ [2011] Uniform Law Review 705; Hiroyasu

Ishikawa, ‘Codification, decodification, and recodification of the Japanese Civil Code’, (2013) 10 University of Tokyo Journal of Law and

Politics 61.

3 For the details of the preparatory works, see Manami Sasaoka, ‘Reform of Transport Law in Japan’, (2013) 18 Zeitschrift für Japanisches

Recht (Journal of Japanese Law) 39.

4 The Interim Report is discussed in Manami Sasaoka and Gen Goto, ‘Reform of Transport and maritime Law in Japan: An Analysis of the

Interim Proposal’ (2015) 50(4-5) European Transport Law 471.