Law for Termination of the Zaibatsu Family Control
法令番号: 法律第2号
公布年月日: 昭和23年1月7日
法令の形式: 法律

審議経過

I hereby promulgate the Law for Termination of the Zaibatsu Family Control.
Signed:HIROHITO, Seal of the Emperor
This seventh day of the first month of the twenty-third year of Showa (January 7, 1948)
Prime Minister　KATAYAMA Tetsu
Law No.2
Law for Termination of the Zaibatsu Family Control
Chapter 1. General Provisions
Article 1.　The objective of this Law is to eradicate personal tie which has served influentially for the formation and maintenance of the Zaibatsu enterprises, thereby promoting a sound development of the Japanese economy on the democratic basis.
Article 2.　The term "Zaibatsu" as used in this Law shall mean groups of individuals, who, while having been previously designated as the "designated persons," in accordance with the provisions of Art.1, Par.1 of the Holding Company Liquidation Commission Ordinance, as of the date of enforcement of this Law, belong to the same line of family as classified by the Prime Minister according to relations between designated persons by blood, marriage or other similar relationship.
The term "Zaibatsu company" as used in this Law shall mean juridical persons or other organizations designated by the Prime Minister as being (a) companies whose capitalization as of September 2, 1945, exceeded\10,000,000 and 30% or more of whose capitalization has been controlled directly or indirectly by any one of the Zaibatsu;(b) companies with regard to whose capitalization the face value of stocks controlled directly or indirectly by any one of the Zaibatsus exceeded in total\10,000,000 (however, those companies which, although coming under (a) or (b) above, have, in fact, never been controlled by the Zaibatsu are excepted from the designation);or (c) others which have substantially contributed for the formation or maintenance of Zaibatsu enterprises or which have served as influential agencies through which the Zaibatsu exercised its economic controlling influence.
Zaibatsu companies prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be classified, according to their history, economic scale or the degree of influence exercised by the Zaibatsu to each company, etc., into direct Zaibatsu affiliates, quasi-direct Zaibatsu affiliates and the Zaibatsu associate companies. The classification shall be designated by the Prime Minister.
The term "restricted companies" as used in this Law shall mean designated companies as prescribed in Art.1-(2) of the Imperial Ordinance No.657 of 1945.
The term "subsidiary companies" and "connected companies" as used in this Law shall mean the subsidiary and connected companies as prescribed in Art.1 of the Imperial Ordinance No.567 of 1946 (The Imperial Ordinance relating to restrictions, etc. on holding of securities by companies).
The term "official" as used in this Law shall mean persons who hold position of director (Torishimari-yaku), staff member with executive responsibility (Gyomu Shikko Shain), auditor (Kansa-yaku), or other persons who hold any other positions such as advisor (Komon) or counsellor (Sodan-yaku) which, regardless of their titles, exercise authority or influence commensurate with or surpassing those of any of the positions specified above.
Article 3.　The term "appointees" as used in this Law shall mean offcials in the Zaibatsu companies who, while their appointments as officials were subject to control of any one of the Zaibatsus, have handled the policy matters of the Zaibatsu company where they belonged representing the interest of The Zaibatsu which controls such Zaibatsu companies.
Appointees prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be those coming under any one of the following items. However, persons decided as not being the appointees by the Prime Minister in accordance with the provisions of this Law shall be excluded:
1.　Persons Who held, prior to September 2.1945, any position of officials in any one of the Zaibatsu companies;
2.　In connection with the stocks issued by the Zaibatsu companies, in case the exercise of their voting rights was entrusted in accordance with the provisions of Art.4, Par.4 of the Imperial Ordinance No.567 of 1946 (including cases where the above provisions shall be applied correspondingly in accordance with Art.17 of the same Ordinance) or of Art.10, Par.3 of the Holding Company Liquidation Commission Ordinance, or in case they were transferred according to Art.10, Par.1 or 2 of the Holding Company Liquidation Commission Ordinance, persons who, while having held, between September 3, 1945 and the time that the first trusting or transfer took place, the positions of officials in the direct Zaibatsu affiliates or the positions of or positions exercising the authority or influence higher than the standing directors in the quasi-direct Zaibatsu affiliates or in the Zaibatsu associate companies.
Chapter 2. Zaibatsu Family Members
Article 4.　Any persons who were in the same family census register with persons belonging to the Zaibatsu on the day that the latters were designated in accordance with Art.1, Par.1 of the Holding Company Liquidation Commission Ordinance (hereinafter to be called the Zaibatsu, family members) who hold, on the day of enforcement of this Law, any position of officials in any of the Zaibatsu or restricted companies designated as belonging to any one of the Zaibatsu by the Prime Minister, or in any of their subsidiary or connected companies which have been defined as such as of the day of the enforcement of this Law, shall retire there from within thirty days from the day of enforcement of this Law. In case they do not retire in spite of the above provisions, they shall forfeit their positions on the thirty-first day.
In the case prescribed in the preceding paragraph, those in the positions of executive staff members shall become staff members of unlimited liability without executive power.
The Zaibatsu family members shall, for ten years from the day of enforcement of this Law, be excluded from the positions of officials in companies prescribed in Par.1 above and be prohibited from conducting any activities which belong to the competence authorized only for officials in such companies.
The provisions of Art.258, Par.1 of the Commercial Code (including cases to which the above provisions be applicable correspondingly) shall not be applied to any cases in which the Zaibatsu family members have retired, due to their resignation or expiration of their term of office, from the positions of officials in companies prescribed in Par.1 above.
Chapter 3. Appointees
Article 5.　Any appointees who hold, on the day of enforcement of this Law, any position of officials in any of the Zaibatsu or restricted companies designated by the Prime Minister as belonging to the one and same Zaibatsu with whom the appointees have been connected or in any of their subsidiary or connected companies which have been defined as such as of the day of enforcement of this Law shall, in case they do not file the application prescribed in Art.6, Par.1 or Art. or Art.7, Par.1 below retire therefrom within thirty days from the day of enforcement of this Law, and in case they, while having filed such application, are notified, in accordance with the provisions of the same paragraphs, by the Prime Minister as being the appointee, retire therefrom within thirty days from the day of the notification. In case they do not retire in spite of the above provisions, they shall forfeit their positions on the thirty-first day.
Any appointees shall, for ten years from the day of enforcement of this Law, be excluded from the positions of officials in companies prescribed in the preceding paragraph and be prohibited from conducting any activities which belong to competence authorized only for officials in such companies.
Provisions of Pars.2 and 4 of the preceding Article shall be applied correspondingly with the case mentioned in Par.1 above.
Article 6.　Any persons prescribed in any one of item of Art.3, Par.2 above who can produce satisfactory evidence that they come under one of the following items may apply, attached with documentary evidences, to the Prime Minister for approval of their not being the appointees:
1.　That the Zaibatsu company, wherein the subject person held, prior to September 2, 1945, the position of official, had not been, during the period when he served as such, subject to the control of the Zaibatsu of the one and same lineage or of any Zaibatsu company designated as belonging to such Zaibatsu;
2.　That, in view of the circumstances under which the subject persons have been appointed as officials or in view of their actual activities in executing their duties and powers as officials, they would not be considered as the appointees without causing gross injustice.
The Prime Minister, upon acceptance of the above applications shall forward them to the Appointees Examination Committee and give, based upon the findings of the Committee, the decision of approval or disapproval of the application.
Any persons prescribed in Par.1 above who hold, on the day of enforcement of this Law, any position of officials in any of the Zaibatsu or restricted companies designated by the Prime Minister as belonging to one and same Zaibatsu with whom they have been connected or in any of their subsidiary or connected companies which have been defined as such as of the day of enforcement of this Law shall, in case they intend to file the application prescribed in the preceding paragraph, file such application within thirty days from the day of enforcement of this Law.
Article 7.　Besides with the cases prescribed in Par.1 of the preceding Article any persons prescribed in Item 1 of Art.3, Par.2 who held the positions of officials excepting those of or those exercising the authority or influence higher than the standing directors in the quasi-direct Zaibatsu affiliates or who held the positions of officials excepting those of the highest responsible officials in the Zaibatsu associate companies or any persons prescribed in Item 2 of the same paragraph may, based upon the reason that they satisfy all the conditions prescribed in the following items (with regard to persons prescribed in Item 2 of the same paragraph, Item 3 shall be excluded) apply for the approval of the Prime Minister of their not being the appointees:
1.　That the subject person is not a spouse, parent, child, brother or sister including a spouse of such person, of persons belonging to the Zaibatsu or their family members.
2.　That, with reference to any appointment to the position of official which the subject person occupied, there has never existed an arrangement with the Zaibatsu or the direct Zaibatsu affiliates that their previous approval should be obtained, or that should such an arrangement have never existed, the subject person, on the occasion of his appointment, did not, in fact, obtain the previous approval of the Zaibatsu or the direct Zaibatsu affiliates.
3.　That the subject person has, in fact, never exercised the authority or influence commensurate with or surpassing, in the case of his having been an official in the quasi-direct Zaibatsu affiliates, that of the standing director, and, in the case of his having been an official in the Zaibatsu associate companies, that of the highest responsible official.
4.　That the subject person has never held concurrently the positions of officials in Zaibatsu companies exceeding three positions at one time.
The Prime Minister, upon acceptance of the above applications, shall forward them to the Appointees Examination Committee and give, based upon the findings of the Committee, the decision of approval or disapproval of the application.
Any persons prescribed in Par.1 above, in case they intend to file both of the applications based upon the same paragraph and based upon the preceding Article, shall file those applications simultaneously.
Article 8.　In case whole official who have been authorized to represent the company have to retire in accordance with the provisions of Art.4, Par.1 or of Art.5, Par.1, the companies concerned. if it is necessary, may, based upon agreement of majority of such retiring officials, file the application with the Prime Minister requesting that one of such officials selected from among themselves be approved to retain his position temporarily for the term not exceeding six months from the day of enforcement of this Law.
Besides the case prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the companies concerned, in case they are essential to the reconstruction of the national economy, may file applications with the Prime Minister for retaining persons in their positions of officials, whose service are indispensable for management of such companies and whose replacements are unobtainable within the limited term of period which, in no way, exceeds one year.
In the above case, if companies succeeding the companies where the persons were approved, in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, to retain their positions of officials, the companies concerned, in case the successor companies are essential to the reconstruction of the national economy and in case services of such persons are indispensable for management of the successor companies and their replacements are unobtainable may file the application with the Prime Minister requesting to approve such persons to assume the positions of officials in such successor companies within the period for which they had been previously approved to retain their positions.
The appointees may rile their applications with the Prime Minister for being approved to retain or to assume the position of liquidator in companies under liquidation for the term not exceeding one year whose renewal, however, may be applied in the case of necessity.
Upon acceptance of the applications prescribed in the preceding four paragraphs, the Prime Minister shall forward them to the Appointees Examination Committee and give, based upon the finding of the Committee, the decision of approval or disapproval of the applications.
In the case prescribed in Par.1 above, the official whose retention was requested may, in case approval be granted, retain his post during the approved period and may, in case of disapproval, retain his position until such a disapproval be notified.
Article 9.　With reference to applications of the provisions of Art.4 or 5, the successor companies of those prescribed in Art.4, Par.1 or Art, 5, Par.1 shall be considered as those prescribed in such Article. However, the period within which officials affected have to retire shall be thirty days from the day of decision prescribed in Par.2 below or the day of notification from the Prime Minister of their being the appointees and the day on which they will forfeit their positions shall be thirty-first day from the day of the decision prescribed in the same paragraph or the day of the notification from the Prince Minister of their being the appointees.
The "successor companies" as used in this Law shall be those companies to be decided specifically by the Prime Minister, in accordance with the findings of the Appointees Examination Committee, as being substantially identical with companies prescribed in Art.4, Par.1 or Art.5, Par.1 based upon facts such as stock-holding percentage by such companies, succession of major part of business, assets, customers and personnel and of the business title of such companies.
Any companies which received investment from the companies prescribed in Art.4, Par.1 or Art.5, Par.1 or to which a part or the whole of business of such companies were transferred shall apply to the Prime Minister for being decided, in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, as to their being the successor company or not, in case they do exist at present, within thirty days from the day of enforcement of this Law, and in case such investment or transfer takes place newly hereafter, within thirty days from the day that such investment or transfer takes place.
Any persons, who accepted any title such as advisor, counsellor, participator (San-yo) or others which may be taken as substantially commensurate with the status of officials, shall, so far as application of the provisions of Arts.4 and 5 are concerned, shall be regarded as having assumed the position of official.
Article 10.　Regarding the designation provided for in Art.2, Par.2 or 3, any interested person who deems that the designation is based upon wrong fact may apply to the Prime Minister for the cancellation or alteration of such designation within thirty days from the day of the designation.
The Prime Minister, upon acceptance of the application prescribed in the preceding paragraph, shall forward it to the Appointees Examination Committee and give, based upon the findings of the Committee, the decision of approval or disapproval of the application.
In case the application prescribed in Par.1 above be submitted, "the day of enforcement of this Law" prescribed in Art.5, Par.1 and Art.6, Par.3 shall, in connection with application of the said paragraphs, read "on the day of announcement of decision by the Prime Minister of the application prescribed in Art.10, Par.1."
Chapter 4. Appointees Examination Committee
Article 11.　There shall be established, under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister, the Appointees Examination Committee.
Article 12.　The Examination Committee shall conduct examinations on the following matters:
1.　Applications for approval of their not being the appointees in accordance with Art.6, Par.1;
2.　Applications for approval of their not being the appointees in accordance with Art.7, Par.1;
3.　Applications for retention in or assumption of office in accordance with Pars.1 to 4 of Art.8;
4.　Applications for cancellation or alteration of designation in accordance with the provisions of Art.10, Par.1.
Article 13.　Upon acceptance of the applications prescribed in each Item of the preceding Article the Prime Minister shall forward them to the Examination Committee without delay.
Article 14.　The Prime Minister, at the request of the Examination Committee, may cause persons concerned to present materials or to give explanation of facts to the Examination Committee.
Article 15.　The Examination Committee shall conduct examinations concerning matters which come under its jurisdiction and submit a report, attached with its findings, on the proceedings to the Prime Minister, within three weeks since it accepted such matters (in the case of applications prescribed in Art.8, Par.1. within five days). However, the Prime Minister may, upon request of the Examination Committee, postpone, if necessary, the time-limit prescribed above within the limited term of period.
Article 16.　Upon acceptance of the report provided for in the preceding Article from the Examination Committee, the Prime Minister shall, within one week (in the case of applications prescribed in Art.8, Par.1, within two days), make decision of approval or disapproval of the applications and take, based thereupon, necessary actions, publish it and make relevant documents available for public inspection.
Article 17.　The Examination Committee shall consist of not exceeding nine members.
In case it is found necessary for investigating and examining special matters, temporary members may be appointed. Temporary members, however, shall not vote in the final decision of the Examination Committee.
Article 18.　The chairman of the Examination Committee shall be coopted from among regular Committee members.
Regular Committee members or temporary members shall be appointed by the Cabinet.
Article 19.　A quorum of seven members is required for holding the Examination Committee.
The final decision of the Committee shall be given by majority of attending members including the chairman.
In the event of a tie, the chairman shall cast the deciding vote.
Article 20.　The chairman, members and temporary members shall neither publish nor disclose any informations concerning matters connected with the proceedings of the Examination Committee.
Article 21.　The Examination Committee shall have the Secretariate.
The Secretariate shall dispose miscellaneous matters of the Examination Committee.
The Secretariats shall have necessary number of personnel in accordance with the provisions of the Cabinet Order.
Article 22.　The procedure of examination and other necessary matters relating to the affairs of the Examination Committee shall be determined by the chairman.
Chapter 5. Appeal
Article 23.　Any persons prescribed below may, in case they deem that errors exist with facts upon which the decision of their cases were based, request, within one month after the decision was given by the Prime Minister, the re-examination of their cases to the Prime Minister:
1.　Persons who have filed applications for approval of their not being the appointees in accordance with the provisions, of Art.6, Par.1, whose applications were disapproved;
2.　Persons who have filed applications for approval of their not being the appointees in accordance with the provisions of Art.7, Par.1, whose applications were disapproved;
3.　Persons who have filed applications for retention in or assumption of positions of officials in accordance with the provisions of Pars.1 to 4 of Art.8 whose applications were disapproved.
With reference to the designation prescribed in Art.9, Par.2, interested persons who deem that error exists with fact upon which the designation was based may request the re-examination of the case to the Prime Minister within one month after the designation by the Prime Minister.
Article 24.　Upon acceptance of the requests for re-examination prescribed in the preceding Article, the Prime Minister shall forward them to the Appointees Re-examination Committee.
Article 25.　The Appointees Re-examination Committee shall conduct examinations on the basis of the letter of applications, decide whether they are sufficiently justifiable or not and, within two weeks, submit its report on the proceedings, to the Prime Minister together with its findings.
The provisions of the proviso of Art.15 shall apply correspondingly to the above case.
Article 26.　Upon acceptance of the report prescribed in the preceding Article, the Prime Minister shall give decision of rejecting the request for re-examination or of returning the case to the Examination Committee and take, based thereupon, necessary actions without delay.
Article 27.　Upon acceptance of request for re-examination from the Prime Minister, the Examination Committee shall re-examine the case and submit its report, within two weeks, on the proceedings to the Prime Minister together with its findings.
In the above case, the members of the Re-examination Committee may attend at and join the final decision of the Examination Committee.
The provisions of the proviso of Art.15 shall apply correspondingly to the case prescribed in Par.1 above.
Article 28.　Upon acceptance of the report on the result of the re-examination as prescribed in the preceding Article, the Prime Minister shall within one week from the day of acceptance of the report, give decision of sustaining or rescinding the former decision, and take, based thereupon, necessary actions, publish them and make the relevant documents available for public inspection.
Article 29.　There shall be established, under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister, the Appointees Re-examination Committee.
The Re-examination Committee shall consist of members not exceeding seven in number.
A quorum of five members is required for holding the Re-examination Committee.
Article 30.　The provisions of Arts.14 and 17, Par.2, Arts.18 and 19, Pars.2 and 3, Arts.20 to 22 shall be apply correspondingly to the Re-examination Committee.
Chapter 6. Penalty Provisions
Article 31.　Any persons who come under any one of the following items shall be subject to a penal servitude not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding 15,000 yen
1.　Persons who violated the provisions of Art.4, Par.3;
2.　Persons who violated the provisions of Art.5, Par.2;
3.　Persons who, while having filed applications in accordance with the provisions of Art.6, Par.1, Art.7, Par.1, Pars.1 to 4 of Art.8 or Art.23, presented, in connection therewith, statements false or incomplete;
4.　Persons who did not file the applications prescribed in Art.9, Par.3 or presented the false applications;
5.　Persons who, while having been requested to submit materials or give explanation of facts in accordance with the provisions of Art.14, refused to comply therewith or presented statement false or incomplete.
Any persons who have committed the above may be subjected to concurrent imposition of the penal servitude and fine.
Supplementary Provisions:
The present Law shall come into force as from the day of its promulgation.
A part of the Holding Company Liquidation Commission Ordinance shall be amended as follows:
The following paragraph shall be added to Art.10.
"In case the aggregate amount, in face-value, of stocks and other investments of companies prescribed in Art.5 of the Law for Termination of the Zaibatsu Family Control which have been owned inclusively by the designated persons designated as such as of the day of enforcement of the said Law and by any persons who were in the same family register on the day that the formers were designated, exceeds 10 per cent of the capitalization of the companies, the provisions of the preceding three paragraphs shall apply to that amount of stocks or other investments that exceeds 10 per cent."
Prime Minister　KATAYAMA Tetsu