Law for Partial Amendments, etc. to the Court Organization Law

Article 1. The Court Organization Law (Law No.59 of 1947) shall partially be amended as follows: In Contents, "Chapter III. Summary Court" shall read "Chapter III. Family Court, Chapter IV. Summary Court." In Article 2, "and Summary Courts" shall read "Family Courts and Summary Courts." In Article 10, item 1, after "of a litigant," there shall be added "(excluding cases where the opinion is the same as that of a decision previously rendered through a Grand Bench in which the Constitutionality of the statute, ordinance, regulation or disposition is recognized)." In Article 13, "Secretariat (Jimu-kyoku)" shall read "Secretariat (Jimu-sokyoku)." In Book II, there shall be added the following one Article after Article 14;

Article 14-(2), (Supreme Court Library) In the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court Library shall be established as a branch Library of the National Diet Library.

Article 16, items 1 to 3 inclusive shall be amended as follows: 1. "Koso" appeals from judgements in the first instance rendered by District Courts, from judgements rendered by Family Courts and from judgements concerning criminal cases rendered by Summary Courts; 2. Complaints (Kokoku) against rulings and orders rendered by District Courts and Family Courts and against rulings and orders concerning criminal cases rendered by Summary Courts, except those mentioned in Article 7, item 2; 3. "Jokoku" appeals from judgements in the second instance rendered by District Courts and from judgements rendered by Summary Courts, except those concerning criminal cases. In Article 19, after "a District Court," there shall be added "or a Family Court." Article 24, items 2 and 3 shall be amended as follows: 2. "Koso" appeals from judgements rendered by Summary Courts, except those mentioned in Article 16, item 1; 3. Complaints (Kokoku) against rulings and orders rendered by Summary Courts, except those mentioned in Article 7, item 2 and Article 16, item 2. In Article 28, after "another District Court," there shall be added "or a Family Court within the said area or of the said High Court." In Book III, Chapter III shall be Chapter IV, and after Article 31, there shall be added the following one Chapter: Chapter III. Family Court

Article 31-(2). (Organization) A Family Court shall consist of a proper number of Judges and Assistant Judges.

Article 31-(3). (Jurisdiction and other powers) A Family Court shall have power over the following matters: 1. Judgement and conciliation with regard to cases relating to family as provided by the Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations; 2. Judgment with regard to the matters of protection of the juvenile as provided by the Juvenile Law; 3. Actions in the first instance relating to any of the offenses mentioned in Article 37, Paragraph 1 of the Juvenile Law. A Family Court cannot impose imprisonment (without hard labor) on a graver penalty. A Family Court shall have, in addition to those prescribed in this statute, other powers as specially provided by other statutes.

Article 31-(4). (Single Judge System, Collegiate Court System) In case of rendering judgement, a Family Court shall handle cases through a single Judge. However, cases which as elsewhere provided by statute are to be heard and decided through a collegiate court shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of such statute. The number of judges of a collegiate court mentioned in the proviso to the preceding paragraph shall be three, one of whom shall be the Presiding Judge.

Article 31-(5). (Application with the Necessary Modifications of the Provisions of District Court) The Provisions of Articles 27 to 31 inclusive shall apply with the necessary modifications to a Family Court.

In Article 33, paragraph 1, item 3, after "relating to attempts at them," there shall be added "(excluding the actions mentioned in Article 31-(3), paragraph 1, item 3)." In Article 41, paragraph 2, "Secretaries of the Attorney-General's Office (Homu-cho), Instructors of the Attorney-General's Office (Homu-cho) or Juvenile Court Judges" shall read "Secretaries of the Attorney-General's Office (Homu-cho) or Instructors of the Attorney-General's Office (Homu-cho)." Article 42, paragraph 1, item 5 shall read as follows: 5. Research Officials of a court and Teachers of the Judicial Research and Training Institute; In Article 44, paragraph 1, item 4, "Secretaries of the Attorney-General's Office (Homu-cho), Instructors of the Attorney-General's Office (Homu-cho) and Juvenile Court Judges" shall read "Secretaries of the Attorney-General's Office (Homu-cho) and Instructors of the Attorney-General's Office (Homu-cho)." In Article 50, "a High Court or a District Court" shall read "a High Court, a District Court or a Family Court." In Article 53, paragraph 3, "Secretariat (Jimu-kyoku) shall read" Secretariat (Jimu-sokyoku)." In Article 54, "(Private Secretary to the President of the Supreme Court)" shall read "(Private Secretaries to judges of the Supreme Court)" ;in paragraph 1 of the same Article, there shall be added "and fourteen Private Secretaries to Judges of the Supreme Court" after "one Private Secretary to the President of the Supreme Court" ;paragraph 2 of the same Article, "and Private Secretaries to Judges of the Supreme Court" shall be added after Private Secretary to the President of the Supreme Court "and in paragraph 3 of the same Article," Private Secretaries to Judges of the Supreme Court shall, upon the order of the judges of the Supreme Court "shall be added after" of the President of the Supreme Court." There shall be added the following two articles after Article 56:

Article 56-(2). (Director of the Supreme Court Library) In the Supreme Court there shall be one Director of the Supreme Court Library, who shall be appointed from among court officials. The Director of the Supreme Court Library shall, under the supervision of the President of the Supreme Court, administer the affairs of the Supreme Court Library, and control and supervise the officials thereof. The provisions mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs shall not prevent the application of the provisions of the National Diet Library Law.

Article 56-(3). (Private Secretaries to Presidents of High Courts) In a High Court, there shall be one Private Secretary to the President of Hight Court. Private Secretaries to Presidents of High Courts shall be second class officials. Private Secretaries to Presidents of High Courts shall, upon the order of Presidents of High Courts shall administer confidential affairs.

In Article 59, paragraph 1, "each High Court and District Court" shall read "each High Court, District Court and Family Court" and in paragraph 2 of the same Article, after "the President of each District Court," there shall be added "the Chief of Secretariat of each Family Court, of the President of each Family Court." In Article 60, paragraph 1, "each High Court of each District Court" shall read "each High Court, each District Court or each Family Court." There shall be added the following one Article after Article 61.

Article 61-(2). (Juvenile Investigators) In each Family Court there shall be Juvenile Investigators, and they shall be assigned to positions from among court secretaries or technical officials of court by the Supreme Court or each Family Court in accordance with the rules determined by the Supreme Court. Juvenile Investigators shall conduct the necessary research for judgement mentioned in Article 31-(3), paragraph 1, item 2 and other affairs provided by the Juvenile Law. Chief Juvenile Investigators may be appointed from among Juvenile Investigators by the Supreme Court to exercise supervision over research affairs, and to conduct the affairs of liaison and adjustment, etc. with the District Youth Offenders Prevention and Rehabilitation Board and other organs. Juvenile Investigators shall, in exercising their duties, obey the order of judges.

Article 63, paragraph 1 shall be amended as follows: There shall be bailiffs in each court. They may be third class officials within the limits of number to be fixed elsewhere by statute. Article 64 shall be amended as follow:

Article 64. (Appointment, Dismissal and Promotion) The appointment, dismissal and promotion of court officials other than judges shall be made by the Supreme Court, a High Court, a District Court or a Family Court in accordance with the rules determined by the Supreme Court.

In Article 65, "Chief of Secretariat or Court Clerks" shall read "Chief of Secretariat, Court Clerks or Juvenile Investigators," after "Technical Officials of Court," there shall be added "(except those being Juvenile Investigators)," and "a High Court or a District Court" shall read "a High Court, a District Court or a Family Court." In Article 80, item 4 shall be item 5, and the following one item shall be added to the same Article: 4. Each Family Court shall exercise Supervision over its officials.

Article 2. The Law concerning the Status of Judges and Other Court Officials (No.127 of 1947) shall partially be amended as follows: In Article 3, paragraph 1, "the District Court or the Summary Court" shall read "the District Court, the Summary Court or the Family Court." In Article 14, paragraph 1, "The dismissal......, in case of the first class, by the Cabinet upon the request of the Supreme Court accompanied by a resolution of the Court Officials'Disciplinary Punishment Higher Committee, in case of the second class," shall read "The dismissal and reduction of salaries......, in case of the first class and the second class," ; "a High Court or a District Court" shall read "a High Court, a District Court or a Family Court" and the following one item shall be added as item 2-(2) after item 2 of the same paragraph: 2-(2). Private Secretaries to Judges of the Supreme Court The following one item shall be added as item 3-(2) after Article 14, paragraph 1, item 3: 3-(2). Private Secretaries to Judges of High Courts In Article 14, paragraph 3, "Paragraph 1" shall read "the preceding paragraph" ; "a High Court or a District Court" shall read "a High Court, a District Court or a Family Court" and paragraph 2 of the same Article shall be deleted.

Article 3. The Law concerning the Exceptions to the Authority of Assistant Judges, etc.(Law No.146 of 1948) shall partially be amended as follows: In paragraph 1 of Article 1, "(including the case where the application with the necessary modifications shall be made in accordance with Article 31-(5) of the said Law)" shall be added after "Article 29, paragraph 3" and "or the Family Court" shall be added after "the District Court." There shall be added the following one Article after Article 2:

Article 2-(2). With respect to those who have the qualification to be appointed an aspirant (Shihokan-shiho) prescribed in the Law of the Constitution of Courts and have held office as a judicial apprentice (gakushuhokan) of Manchukuo, a higher rank official on probation thereof or any of officials of Manchukuo mentioned in the preceding Article for the total period of two years or more, they shall, when their periods of holding office have passed two years, be deemed to have the qualification to be appointed a judge or a public procurator prescribed in the Law of the Constitution of Courts, and the provisions of the preceding Article shall apply with the necessary modifications thereto.

Article 4. The Law for the Total Number of Court Officials (Law No.64 of 1947) shall partially be amended as follows: In Article 4, "full time service 4,609 persons 3rd class" shall read "full time service 4,551 persons 3rd class." There shall be added the following one Article after Article 5:

Article 6. The number of bailiffs of the third class shall be 58 persons in full time service.

Article 5. The Public Procurator's Office Law (Law No.61 of 1947) shall partially be amended as follows: In paragraph 3 of Article 2, "a High Court or a District Court" shall read "a High Court, a District Court or a Family Court" and there shall be added the following one paragraph after paragraph 1 of the same Article: A District Public Procurators's Office shall also correspond to a Family Court. In Article 19, paragraph 1, item 3, "Juvenile Court Judge" shall be deleted. In Article 38, after "Councillors in the Ministry of Justice," there shall be added "Juvenile Court Judges."

Article 6. The Law for Establishment of the Attorney-General's Office (Law No.193 of 1947) shall partially be amended as follows: In Article 10, paragraph 5. items 2 and 3 and Article 15, paragraphs 2 and 3, "Juvenile Court" shall read "Family Court."

Article 7. The Code of Oriminal Procedure (Law No.131 of 1948) shall partially be amended as follows: The proviso to Article 463 shall be deleted.

Article 8. The Law for Adjudgement of Domestic Relations (Law No.152 of 1947) shall patially be amended as follows: "The Court of Domestic Relations" shall read "the Family Court." Article 2 and Article 3 shall be amended as follows:

Article 2. The judges who handle the matters prescribed in this Law in the Family Court shall be judges of domestic relations.

Article 3. Except as otherwise provided, the judge of domestic relations shall, on causing the councillors to attend or hearing their opinions, render judgement;however, if deemed suitable, the Family Court may render judgement only by a judge of domestic relations. The conciliation shall be effected by the conciliation committee which shall consist of a judge of domestic relations and conciliation commissioners. The provisions of the proviso to the preceding paragraph shall apply with the necessary modifications to conciliation.

In Article 10, paragraph 2 and Article 22, paragraph 2, item "District Court" shall read "Family Court."

Article 9. In the following Laws, "Court of Domestic Relations" shall read "Family Court." Law concerning Registration of Families (Law No.224 of 1947); Child Welfare Law (Law No.164 of 1947); Law of Procedure in Actions relating to Personal Status (Law No.13 of 1898); Mentally Deranged Person Protection Act (Law No.38 of 1900); Civil Code (Law No.89 of 1896).

Supplementary Provisions:

Article 10. The present Law shall came into force as from January 1, 1949. However, the provisions of Articles 14-(2) and 56-(2) of the Court Organization Law and the provisions of Article 2-(2) of the Law concerning the Exceptions to the Authority of Assistant Judges, etc. and of Article 6 of the Law for the Total Number of Court Officials as well as the provisions amending Article 10 and Article 63, paragraph 1 of the Court Organization Law and Article 4 of the Law for the Total Number of Court Officials shall come into force as from the day of the promulgation of the presen Law.

Article 11. The provisions amending Articles 16, 24 and 33 of the Court Organization Law in Article 1, shall not apply to cases against which public actions were instituted before the enforcement of the present Law. 2 Concerning the cases mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the former provisions shall still be effective even after the enfocement of the present Law.

Article 12. The tenure of the office of Juvenile Court Judge before the enforcement of the present Law shall be deemed as that of Research Officials of Court in the application of the provisions of Articles 41, 42 and 44 of the Court Organization Law amended by the present Law.

Article 13. The Family Court mentioned in Article 63, paragraph 2 of the Juvenile Law (Law No.168 of 1648) shall be the Family Court having jurisdiction over the district within which the Juvenile Protection Office upon which the case is pending is located.

Article 14. The cases which are pending upon the Court of Domestic Relations and those upon the District Court in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of the Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations in force prior to its amendment by the present Law (hereinafter referred to as the old Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations) at the time of enforcement of the present Law shall be deemed to have been brought before and become pending upon the Family Court having jurisdiction over the district within witch the said Court of Domestic Relations or District Court is located on the day of enforcement of the present Law. 2 As to cases of complaint against judgment of the Court of Domestic Relations and those in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of the old Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations, those which are pending upon the Court of Complaint at the time of enforcement of the present Law shall be deemed those against judgment of the Family Court. 3 Except as otherwise provided, acts done before the enforcement of the present Law, in a case mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs, by the Court of Domestic Relations or other persons in accordance with the provisions of the old Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations shall be deemed, in the application of the amended Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations (hereinafter referred to as the new Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations), to be those done in accordance with the provisions of the said Law.

Article 15. Judgement rendered by the Court of Domestic Relations which has become irrevocable before the enforcement of the present Law or conciliation concluded in the said Court before the day of the said enforcement shall be deemed as judgment rendered by or conciliation concluded in the Family Court having jurisdiction over the district within which the said Court is located.

Article 16. The old Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations shall still be effective even after the enforcement of the present Law, in the application of the Provisions concerning administrative fine against acts done before the enforcement of the present Law. In this case, judgement of administrative fine shall be rendered by the Family Court having jurisdiction over the district within which the Court of Domestic Relations to which the old Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations gives power thereon is located. 2 In the application of the penal provisions against acts done by any person who has been councillor or conciliation commissioner before the enforcement of the present Law, the old Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations shall still be effective even after the enforcement of the present Law.

Article 17. Judgement which shall be deemed judgement rendered by the Court of Domestic Relations in accordance with the provisions of the Enforcement Law of the Domestic Relations Adjudgment Law (Law No.153 of 1947) shall be deemed judgment rendered by the Family Court after the enforcement of the present Law.

Article 18. A matter which shall be referred back to the Court of Domestic Relations which has jurisdiction thereon in accordance with the provisions of Article 24, paragraph 2 of the Enforcement Law of the Domestic Relations Adjudgment Law, shall be referred back to the Family Court which has jurisdiction thereon after the enforcement of the present Law. 2 In cases where a matter has been referred back in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, acts done in the said matter by the Court or other persons in accordance with the provisions of the Law of Procedure in Non-contentious Matters in force prior to its amendment by the Enforcement Law of the Domestic Relations Adjudgment Law shall be deemed, in the application of the new Law for Adjudgment of Domestic Relations, acts done in accordance with the provisions of the said Law.

Article 19. Judgement which shall be rendered by the Court of Domestic Relations in accordance with the provisions of Article 14, paragraph 2 or Article 27, paragraph 3 of the Supplementary Provisions of the Law for Partial Amendments to the Civil Code (Law No.222 of 1947)(including cases to which the application of those paragraphs with the necessary modifications is prescribed in Article 25, paragraph 2, proviso, Article 26, paragraph 2 and Article 28 of the Supplementary Provisions of the said Law), shall be rendered by the Family Court after the enforcement of the present Law.