The British Court for Japan (formally Her Britannic Majesty's Court for Japan) was a

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

established in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

in 1879 to try cases against British subjects in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, under the principles of

extraterritoriality In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cla ...

. The court also heard appeals from British consular courts in Japan. Appeals from the British Court for Japan lay to the British Supreme Court for China and Japan based in the

Shanghai International Settlement The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdiction ...

Background

Britain acquired

extraterritorial rights Extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries. Any authority can claim ETJ over any external territory they wish. However, for the claim to be effective in the externa ...

in Japan under the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858. British Consular officials sat as judges

consular court Consular courts were law courts established by foreign powers in countries where they had extraterritorial rights. They were presided over by consular officers. Extraterritoriality Western powers when establishing diplomatic relations with count ...

s in all

treaty ports Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...

in Japan. Until 1865 appeals from decisions of consular officials were made to the Supreme Court of Hong Kong. From 1865 appeals from decisions could be made to the British Supreme Court for China and Japan in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. Judges of the Shanghai Supreme Court were also empowered to travel to Japan to try cases on circuit.

Establishment of Court for Japan

In 1871, an attempt was made to establish a branch of the Shanghai Supreme Court in Yokohama by having an acting assistant judge from Shanghai,

Nicholas John Hannen Sir Nicholas John Hannen (24 August 1842 – 27 April 1900) was a British barrister, diplomat and judge who served in China and Japan. He was the Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan from 1891 to 1900 and also served ...

, based in Yokohama. Hannen ruled this arrangement to be invalid in 1872. Judges from Shanghai remained in Yokohama but sat as a judge of the Kanagawa Consular Court. In 1877 and 1878 the legality of these arrangements were challenged by the Japanese Government when the acting law secretary,

Hiram Shaw Wilkinson Sir Hiram Shaw Wilkinson, JP, DL (1840–1926) was a leading British judge and diplomat, serving in China and Japan. His last position before retirement was as Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Corea. Early life Hira ...

, ruled that the import of medicinal opium into Japan was legal. The British Government determined to establish a formal court in Japan. On 1 January 1879 the British Court for Japan was created in Yokohama. The court had had first instance jurisdiction in Kanagawa and appellate jurisdiction from other consular courts in Japan. Appeals from the Court for Japan lay to Supreme Court in Shanghai.

Court buildings

In Yokohama, the Court for Japan sat in the British Consulate building in Yokohama. The building was destroyed in the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshū at 11:58:44 JST (02:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. Extensive firestorms an ...

. In other cities, when the Judge of the court went on circuit to outlying cities he would generally sit in courts in British consulate buildings but on occasions where important cases of great public interest were being heard would use other premises.

End of extraterritoriality

Under the terms of the

Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation The signed by Britain and Japan, on 16 July 1894, was a breakthrough agreement; it heralded the end of the unequal treaties and the system of extraterritoriality in Japan. The treaty came into force on 17 July 1899. From that date British subje ...

signed in 1894, Britain gave up extraterritorial rights in Japan with effect from July 1899. The Court for Japan officially heard its last case, which had been filed before the end of July 1899, in early 1900.

Cases

The court tried cases of all descriptions, all the time applying the laws of England in Japan, including murder trials before juries, divorce cases, commercial disputes and cases of petty theft. Famous cases were: * The '' Normanton'' case where Captain Drake of the ''Normanton'' was prosecuted for the

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

of 30 Japanese passengers who died on the ''Normanton'' when it sank. * The ''

Chishima The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

'' case where the Japanese government sued the British Government for the loss of a new navy ship, the ''Chishima.'' * The trial, in 1897, of Edith Carew for the

arsenic poisoning Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, bu ...

of her husband in Yokohama. A book has also been written on this case.

Judges

Between 1879 and 1900 the court had 4 full-time judges.Sourced from Foreign Office List entries for each individual The judges were: * Richard Temple Rennie (Judge, Court for Japan, 1879 to 1881) *

(Judge, Court for Japan 1881 to 1891) * Robert Anderson Mowat (Judge, Court for Japan, 1891 to 1897) *

(Judge, Court for Japan, 1897 to 1900) (also acting Judge 1894-1895) From 1871 to 1877 two judges from Shanghai were based in

. *

(acting assistant judge 1871-1874) *

Charles Wycliffe Goodwin Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817–1878) was an English Egyptologist, bible scholar, lawyer and judge. His last judicial position was as Acting Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan. Early life Goodwin was born on 2 April 1 ...

(assistant judge 1874-1877) Between 1865 and 1872, Sir

Edmund Grimani Hornby Sir Edmund Grimani Hornby (29 May 1825 – 17 November 1896) was a leading Jewish-Italian British judge, with family interests in diamond-rich Antwerp. He was the founder and Chief Judge of both the British Supreme Consular Court at Constantinopl ...

, the Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan also heard cases in Japan when traveling on circuit. A number of consular officials also sat as acting Judge of the Court for Japan when the Judge was on leave or otherwise unavailable. These included: * Russell Brooke Robertson 1881-1883 *

John Carey Hall John Carey Hall (22 January 1844 – 21 October 1921) was a leading British diplomat who served in Japan in the 19th and early 20th centuries. His last position was as British Consul-General in Yokohama. Early life Hall was born on 22 January 18 ...

1888 * George Jamieson 1888-1889 (from the China Consular Service)

References

{{Reflist Defunct courts 1879 establishments in Japan 1879 in British law Japan–United Kingdom relations British expatriates in Japan 1900 disestablishments in Japan Courts and tribunals established in 1879 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1900