''Kinchu narabini kuge shohatto'' (禁中並公家諸法度), sometimes known in English as the Laws for the Imperial and Court Officials, was a

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

issued by the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

in 1615, to set out its relationship with the

Imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pap ...

and the ''

kuge The was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th century until the rise of the Kamakur ...

'' (imperial court officials). It was issued soon after the Laws for the Military Houses (''buke shohatto'' 武家諸法度), which regulated the

daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally ...

(feudal lords) and the rest of the

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

class, and the Laws on Religious Establishments (''jiin shohatto'' 寺院諸法度). The law specified that the Emperor should dedicate to scholarship and poetry. It also included provisions on the ranks, promotion and costume of the court aristocracy. Traditional interpretations saw the law as trying to minimize the political power of the court, although an alternative interpretation says that it meant to restore the court's authority from poverty and scandal.

References

Legal history of Japan 1615 in law {{Japan-law-stub