Supreme Court of Japan

Supreme Court of Japan, the highest court in Japan, a court of last resort with powers of judicial review and the responsibility for judicial administration and legal training. The court was created in 1947 during the U.S. occupation and is modelled to some extent after the U.S. Supreme Court. As was the Federal Constitutional Court of West Germany, the Supreme Court of Japan was endowed with the prerogative of judicial review, largely as a result of U.S. influence.

The Supreme Court of Japan is the successor to the Daishin-in, which was established in 1875 and reorganized in 1890 under the Meiji Constitution (1889) as a supreme court of final appeal in criminal and civil cases. Under the control of the Ministry of Justice, that court had little independence and could not deal with questions of constitutionality. The 1947 court, therefore, was intended to have the freedom to work independently of the government and to decide the constitutionality of statutes and administrative decisions.

The Supreme Court of Japan is made up of 14 justices and a chief justice, who sit as the Grand Bench to hear constitutional cases and cases that a petty bench (made up of five of the justices) has been unable to decide. There are three petty benches: civil, criminal, and administrative. A petty bench may consider a constitutional issue only if the Grand Bench has set precedent in the specific area covered.

Distribution of cases among the petty benches and assignments of individual Supreme Court judges are determined by the entire court sitting as the Judicial Assembly. The assembly is responsible for determining regulations for the national courts, the public prosecutors, and the legal profession and for disciplining violators of these regulations. As Japan has a unified national court system, all courts are under the control of the Supreme Court. The court even prepares a list of nominees for positions in the inferior courts. The Judicial Assembly, through the Legal Training and Research Institute, also oversees graduate legal training for those who wish to pursue careers as judges, prosecutors, and lawyers.

The justices are appointed by the Cabinet (the chief justice by the emperor upon designation by the Cabinet). At least two-thirds must have considerable experience as lawyers, prosecutors, law professors, or members of high courts. Justices serve for life but may be retired for advanced age or ill health; they may also be impeached by the Diet. The only restriction on the justices is that they are forbidden to take part in politics. Theoretically, the public has some control over the appointments to the court. In the first general election following the appointment of a justice, the electorate is allowed to voice its approval or disapproval; the electorate reviews the status of a justice after a tenure of 10 years.

Cases come to the Supreme Court on appeal from one of the high courts, which are themselves appeals courts. The Supreme Court has no original jurisdiction, and it can deal only with a legal issue arising from a specific case. Even constitutional issues cannot be considered abstractly outside specific legal problems. The court can void any decision in which it finds there has been an incorrect interpretation or application of the law. The court may also overturn a ruling if it finds error in the facts of the case or if it considers the punishment unjust. It may remand a case back to a lower court if it finds justification for the reopening of proceedings.