was a legal scholar in Meiji period

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 ...

, and a founder of Hosei University.

Life and career

Ume was born the second son of the domain doctor of Matsue domain,

Izumo Province was an old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province is in the Chūgoku region. History During the early Kofun period (3rd century) this region was independent an ...

(present-day

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

). He was sent to study

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and upon graduation was employed by the Ministry of Justice. He also taught at Tokyo Imperial University. Ume was sent by the government for advanced studies to the University of Lyon in France in 1886, completing his studies in 1889. After an additional year of study at the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany, he returned to Japan in 1890. He was awarded the degree of doctorate of law by University of Lyon in 1891. On his return, Ume became embroiled in the

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 ...

controversy, and urged the immediate adoption of the code as drawn up by French

foreign advisor Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

to the government,

Gustave Emile Boissonade Gustave Émile Boissonade de Fontarabie (7 June 1825 – 27 June 1910) was a French legal scholar, responsible for drafting much of Japan's civil code during the Meiji Era, and honored as one of the founders of modern Japan's legal system. Bio ...

. When the adoption of the code was delayed in 1892, he appealed to Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi to establish a committee to prepare the new draft, and was chosen to be a member of the new committee in 1893. Together with Hozumi Nobushige and

Tomii Masaaki Tomii (written: 富井 or 富居) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese diplomat *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese Nordic combined skier *, Japanese alpine skier *, Japanese modern penta ...

, he is regarded as the father of Japan's

civil law Civil law may refer to: * Civil law (common law), the part of law that concerns private citizens and legal persons * Civil law (legal system), or continental law, a legal system originating in continental Europe and based on Roman law ** Private la ...

, which was put into effect in 1898. In 1894, Ume was one of a group of lawyers who established the Tokyo Law School, the forerunner of present-day Hosei University, of which he served as president in 1899. In 1906, he was asked by Itō to help codify the laws for the Japanese protectorate of Korea. He died in Keijo ( Seoul) in 1910, of typhoid fever at the age of 50. He was awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest ...

(1st class) on his deathbed, one day before he died. His grave is at Gokoku-ji in Tokyo.

References & further reading

*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:Ume, Kenjiro 1860 births 1910 deaths People from Shimane Prefecture Japanese educators 19th-century Japanese lawyers People of Meiji-period Japan Deaths from typhoid fever Infectious disease deaths in Korea Japanese legal scholars 20th-century Japanese lawyers