The State of Studies of Japanese Constitution in the U.S. and Europe

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25380038
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Public law
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: ARAI MAKOTO 広島大学, 法務研究科, 教授 (20336415)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): Okada Junta 白鴎大学, 大学院法務研究科, 教授 (20382690) ; Kotani Junko 静岡大学, 人文社会科学部, 教授 (40359972) ; Yokodaido Satoshi 慶應義塾大学, 大学院法務研究科, 准教授 (40452924) ; Tokunaga Takashi 和光大学, 経済経営学部, 准教授 (50546992) ; Kinoshita Kazuaki 北海学園大学, 大学院法務研究科, 教授 (80284727)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 憲法 / アメリカ・フランス・イギリス・ドイツ / 憲法学 / 国際情報交換 / 比較憲法 / 日本憲法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we found out the following points: (1) In the U.S. and Europe, only a few scholars have conducted researches on Japanese Constitution, and majority of the constitutional scholars has shown little interest in it. (2) While comparative constitutional studies have become popular worldwide in the last decade, such studies by U.S. and European scholars have focused exclusively on the constitutional systems of the western countries. Japanese constitution has rarely been referred to in these studies. (3) Difficulty of the Japanese language and decline of Japanese economy have been pointed out as the reasons for the disinterest in the Japanese Constitution by western scholars. (4)Constitutional lawyers in the U.S. and Europe do not always refer to foreign laws and practice at the interpretation of their own constitutional laws, and regard Japanese constitution as just a subject of regional studies.

Free Research Field

憲法学