Baron was a Japanese statesman and jurist of the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. Hozumi was born in

Uwajima Domain 270px, Date Munenari 270px, Uwajima Date Museum was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now western Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Uwajima Castle, and was ruled throug ...

Iyo Province was a province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa to the east, and Tosa to the south. Its abbreviated form name was . In term ...

(present-day

Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

) as the second son to a family of ''

kokugaku ''Kokugaku'' ( ja, 國學, label=Kyūjitai, ja, 国学, label=Shinjitai; literally "national study") was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Tokugawa period. Kokugaku scholars worked to refo ...

'' scholars. He graduated from the ''Kaisei Gakko'', (the forerunner to

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

), and studied overseas from 1876-1881. He first traveled to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, where he attended the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and obtained a license as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

. He then traveled to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he attended the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

. On his return to Japan, he accepted a post as a professor of

German law The law of Germany (german: das Recht Deutschlands), that being the modern German legal system (german: Deutsches Rechtssystem), is a system of civil law which is founded on the principles laid out by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of G ...

and of comparative law at Tokyo Imperial University. Together with a group of fellow lawyers, he was a founder of the English Law School, the forerunner of

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private flagship research university in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1885 as Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (the English Law School), Chuo is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the country. The univer ...

, in 1885. In 1888, he was awarded the first

doctorate of law A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

in Japan (法学博士). Together with

Ume Kenjirō was a legal scholar in Meiji period Japan, and a founder of Hosei University. Life and career Ume was born the second son of the domain doctor of Matsue domain, Izumo Province (present-day Shimane Prefecture). He was sent to study French ...

and Tomii Masaaki, he was requested to draft Japan’s

Civil Code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core ar ...

in 1898. One of his most accomplished students was

Kijūrō Shidehara Baron was a pre–World War II Japanese diplomat and politician. He was Prime Minister of Japan from 1945 to 1946 and a leading proponent of pacifism in Japan before and after World War II. He was the last Japanese Prime Minister who was a m ...

who passed the examination to enter the diplomatic service in 1896, and was Foreign Minister in the 1920s and Prime Minister after World War II. Hozumi was appointed to the House of Peers in 1890, and the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1916. He was ennobled with the title of ''danshaku'' (

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

) in 1915 under the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ' ...

'' peerage system. He was the father of legal scholar

Hozumi Shigeto Hozumi (written: ) is both a Japanese surname and a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname *, Japanese tennis player *, Japanese speed skater *, Japanese handball player *, Japanese lawyer *, Japanese actor and ...

and brother to constitutional expert

Hozumi Yatsuka was a Japanese scholar and lawyer. He was active in characterising the legal systems of the Japanese state, and his writings especially focused on the Meiji Constitution. Education Hozumi entered University of Tokyo at the age of nineteen aft ...

. After his death, there was a discussion in Uwajima city to erect a bronze statue in his honor. However, Hozumi specifically left instructions in his will that if future generations wanted to honor him, it would be better to honor him with something useful, like a bridge, rather than something as worthless as a statue. The “Hozumi Bridge” still exists in Uwajima city to this day. He was also honored by a Japanese

commemorative postage stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike de ...

in 1998.

References & further reading

* Hozumi, Nobushige. ''Ancestor-Worship and Japanese Law.'' University Press of the Pacific, 2003, * Hozumi, Nobushige. ''The new Japanese civil code,: As material for the study of comparative jurisprudence''. Maruzen 1912. ASIN: B000870Z46 * Marshall Byron K. ''Professors and Politics: The Meiji Academic Elite''. Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Winter, 1977), pp. 71–97 * Oda, Hiroshi. ''Japanese Law''. Oxford University Press, 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hozumi, Nobushige 1856 births 1926 deaths People from Ehime Prefecture Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Philosophers of law 19th-century Japanese lawyers Kazoku People of Meiji-period Japan Alumni of the University of London Politicians from Ehime Prefecture 20th-century Japanese lawyers