| Research Abstract |
There were three types of legal procedures that were classified as "suits" in the Tokugawa Period of early modern Japan (1615-1867). The first was civil lawsuits, the second, criminal lawsuits and the third type was something like petitions to the authorities. Thus, petitions were also called "suits" in Tokugawa Japan. Today, we find many academic books and papers on civil and criminal suits in Tokugawa Japan. I would say, however, we can hardly find any research in the field of Japanese history on the legal procedures related to petitions to the authorities of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
This study therefore examines the procedure of petitioning the authorities in the time of Tokugawa Shogunate and makes clear the differences and similarities between this type of "suits" and the other type of legal procedures referred to as suits at that time. It also describes the systhems Tokugawa Shogunate had for handling these suits and petitions and point out limits of these systhems. From this research, we can understand the says in which suits and petitions were guaranteed and those in which they were not guaranteed for the people of early modern Japan.
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