Activities of Legal Professionals during the Interwar Period and Wartime Regime: An Emprical and Theoretical Study

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K01231
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 05010:Legal theory and history-related
• Research Institution: Kindai University
• Principal Investigator: HAYASHI Makiko 近畿大学, 法学部, 教授 (70294006)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 法律家研究 / 戦間期

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study shows that, although the number of lawyers in Japan increased rapidly in the 1920s due to changes in the examination system, there was a sharp decline domestically in the 1930s, with an increase in activities as bureaucrats and others in the colonies, and the impact of the professionalisation of quasi legal profession, along with an increase in non-contentious cases. In particular, the Journal of the Bar Association kept a close watch on foreign lawyers in the 1920s, introducing, for example, articles on the dissolution of the Russian Bar Association in 1917 and its exile, and an analysis of the hierarchy of judges' origins. All articles related to lawyers in the journal have been databased and are planned for publication. In addition, comparative research based on professionalisation, hierarchy, relationship with quasi legal professions and relationship with politics, formulated as an international comparative axis for lawyers in the 1920s and 1930s, is ongoing.

Free Research Field

日本法制史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、1930年代に世界がファシズム化していく中で、日本でも弁護士数が減少していった理由を検討した。この弁護士数減少傾向は米・独・仏でも同様であり、また、ロシアでは弁護士会解散後に亡命、少数の弁護士しか存在していない状況であるなど、近年広く行われつつあるファシズム下や植民地における弁護士活動の実態研究に丁合するものである。本研究は法曹会雑誌のデータ入力を行うとともにこうした現象の比較軸を示した。