Darryl E. Flaherty. Public Law, Private Practice

Darryl E. Flaherty's new study is ambitious, well-researched, and highly readable, adding to the increasing number of English-language studies of nineteenth-century Japan; overcoming once-rigidly demarcated disciplinary boundaries between political, intellectual, and legal histories, on the one hand, and social and cultural histories, on the other. His book, Public Law, Private Practice: Politics, Profit, and the Legal Profession in Nineteenth-Century Japan, benefits greatly from Flaherty's judicious and well-balanced approach to the transition of the legal profession from Tokugawa-period suit inn (kujiyado) proprietors and various suit solicitors (kujishi or deiri-shi) to Meiji-era legal advocates (daigennin) and resists incorporation of the former categories into a “prehistory” of the emergence of modern lawyers. He also provides a robust comparative perspective that allows readers to understand the Japanese case in light of similar and parallel developments in early modern Europe. In chapter 1, Flaherty weaves an intricate but compelling narrative of increasing willingness on the part of the bakufu, in particular the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimue's regime during and after the Kyōhō Reforms (approximately 1717–1742), to suppress their aversion to litigation based on neo-Confucian teachings in favor of their pragmatic decision to utilize “specialists” outside the government to cope with mounting cases of disputes related to moneylending, business transactions, and other commercial activities. Even though the bakufu overwhelmingly preferred villagers and townsmen to settle disputes among themselves, the Edo lodging guild comprised of “suit inns” became in 1699 an officially sanctioned feature of the legal process, permitted to aid litigant parties in preparing proper documents and other procedural matters (pp. 32–34).

Ancient history · Art · Economic history · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Legal profession · Literature · Meiji period · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Profit (economics) · Chinese history and philosophy · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies