Study of Agricultural Land Iaw in legal history

2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 12620012
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fundamental law
• Research Institution: Hosei University
• Principal Investigator: KAWAGUCHI Yoshihiko Hosei University, Faculty of Law, Professor, 法学部, 教授 (30186077)
• Project Period (FY): 2000 – 2002
• Keywords: Tenancy conciliation / Rent reduction / Land reform

Research Abstract

In this fiscal year, I went to Kyoto prefectural archives twice and to Gunma prefectural archives 3 times, in order to improve the data that I have collected from last fiscal year, according to the research enforcement plan. It is to study the changes of the relationship between landlords and tenants in two areas, Gunma and Kyoto prefecture, in reference to tenant dispute tables, tenancy conciliation acceptance/result reports etc. I spent almost Grant-in-Aid for scientific research in this fiscal year for this survey.
Thus, I understood that some formality of tenant dispute solution appears from about 1927 in cases of Kyoto. In this formality, landlords and tenants, by conciliation clause, previously designate some farmland for harvest survey and they decide degree of rent reduction according to rigid harvest quantity measured by engineers, in the presence of both sides. The harvest survey in the presence of both sides has existed as the community work from the Edo era for it itself. Ho wever, it is the characteristic in this era that such a survey procedure got legal executive force as a conciliation clause. It is thought that such a system was born at the top of opposition between landlords and tenants. Because, this clause has systematically eliminated the agreement between both sides.
In comparison to Kyoto, in Gunma, there are few cases which have some clause of rent reduction procedure. And overwhelmingly many cases have clause of only once rent reduction or only once farmland return. I can find the exception in Nitta-gun Goudo village and Yamada-gun Morita village. Goudo village won the name as "a propertyless village" across the country. Tenant disputes were fought intensely in these 2 villages. Therefore, conciliation clause mostly have rent reduction procedure. But, when I see the contents of the procedure, many cases have "committee" which consists of landlords and tenants. They decide the degree of rent reduction in this committee. I cannot find in Gunma such cases as eliminate the opportunity of the agreement between both sides, though I can find such elimination in Kyoto. I can say that the clause about committee in Gunma appears as an extension of past "community decision".