The Constitution of the Empire of Japan
Translated by Ito Miyoji.
Contents
Imperial Oath at the Sanctuary of the Imperial Palace
We, the Successor to the prosperous Throne of Our Predecessors, do humbly and solemnly swear to the Imperial Founder of Our House and to Our other Imperial Ancestors that, in pursuance of a great policy co-extensive with the Heavens and with the Earth, We shall maintain and secure from decline the ancient form of government.
In consideration of the progressive tendency of the course
of human affairs and in parallel with the advance of civilization, We deem it
expedient, in order to give clearness and distinctness to the instructions bequeathed
by the Imperial Founder of Our House and by Our other Imperial Ancestors, to establish
fundamental laws formulated into express provisions of law, so that, on the one
hand, Our Imperial posterity may possess an express guide for the course they
are to follow, and that, on the other, Our subjects shall thereby be enabled to
enjoy a wider range of action in giving Us their support, and that the observance
of Our laws shall continue to the remotest ages of time. We will thereby to give
greater firmness to the stability of Our country and to promote the welfare of
all the people within the boundaries of Our dominions; and We now establish the
Imperial House Law and the Constitution. These Laws come to only an exposition
of grand precepts for the conduct of the government, bequeathed by the Imperial
Founder of Our House and by Our other Imperial Ancestors. That we have been so
fortunate in Our reign, in keeping with the tendency of the times, as to accomplish
this work, We owe to the glorious Spirits of the Imperial Founder of Our House
and of Our other Imperial Ancestors.
We now reverently make Our prayer to Them and to Our Illustrious
Father, and implore the help of Their Sacred Spirits, and make to Them solemn
oath never at this time nor in the future to fail to be an example to our subjects
in the observance of the Laws hereby established.
May the Heavenly Spirits witness this Our solemn Oath.
Imperial Speech on the Promulgation of the Constitution
Whereas We make it the joy and glory of Our heart to behold
the prosperity of Our country, and the welfare of Our subjects, We do hereby,
in virtue of the supreme power We inherit from Our Imperial Ancestors, promulgate
the present immutable fundamental law, for the sake of Our present subjects and
their descendants.
The Imperial Founder of Our House and Our other Imperial Ancestors,
by the help and support of the forefathers of Our subjects, laid the foundation
of Our Empire upon a basis, which is to last forever. That this brilliant achievement
embellishes the annals of Our country, is due to the glorious virtues of Our Sacred
Imperial Ancestors, and to the loyalty and bravery of Our subjects, their love
of their country and their public spirit. Considering that Our subjects are the
descendants of the loyal and good subjects of Our Imperial Ancestors, We doubt
not but that Our subjects will be guided by Our views, and will sympathize with
all Our endeavours, and that, harmoniously cooperating together, they will share
with Us Our hope of making manifest the glory of Our country, both at home and
abroad, and of securing forever the stability of the work bequeathed to Us by
Our Imperial Ancestors.
The Constitution of the Empire of Japan
Having, by virtue of the glories of Our Ancestors, ascended
the throne of a lineal succession unbroken for ages eternal; desiring to promote
the welfare of, and to give development to the moral and intellectual faculties
of Our beloved subjects, the very same that have been favoured with the benevolent
care and affectionate vigilance of Our Ancestors; and hoping to maintain the prosperity
of the State, in concert with Our people and with their support, We hereby promulgate,
in pursuance of Our Imperial Rescript of the 12th day of the 10th month of the
14th year of Meiji, a fundamental law of the State, to exhibit the principles,
by which We are guided in Our conduct, and to point out to what Our descendants
and Our subjects and their descendants are forever to conform.
The right of sovereignty of the State, We have inherited from
Our Ancestors, and We shall bequeath them to Our descendants. Neither We nor they
shall in future fail to wield them, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution
hereby granted.
We now declare to respect and protect the security of the
rights and of the property of Our people, and to secure to them the complete enjoyment
of the same, within the extent of the provisions of the present Constitution and
of the law.
The Imperial Diet shall first be convoked for the 23rd year
of Meiji, and the time of its opening shall be the date, when the present Constitution
comes into force.
When in the future it may become necessary to amend any of
the provisions of the present Constitution, We or Our successors shall assume
the initiative right, and submit a project for the same to the Imperial Diet.
The Imperial Diet shall pass its vote upon it, according to the conditions imposed
by the present Constitution, and in no otherwise shall Our descendants or Our
subjects be permitted to attempt any alteration thereof.
Our Ministers of State, on Our behalf, shall be held responsible
for the carrying out of the present Constitution, and Our present and future subjects
shall forever assume the duty of allegiance to the present Constitution.
[His Imperial Majesty's Sign-Manual.]
[Privy Seal.]
The 11th day of the 2nd month of the 22nd year of Meiji.
- (Countersigned)
-
- Count Kuroda Kiyotaka,
- Minister President of State.
- Count Ito Hirobumi,
- President of the Privy Council.
- Count Okuma Shigenobu,
- Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
- Count Saigo Tsukumichi,
- Minister of State for the Navy.
- Count Inouye Kaoru,
- Minister of State for Agriculture and Commerce.
- Count Yamada Akiyoshi,
- Minister of State for Justice.
- Count Matsugata Masayoshi,
- Minister of State for Finance, and Minister of State for Home Affairs.
- Count Oyama Iwao,
- Minister of State for War.
- Viscount Mori Arinori,
- Minister of State for Education.
- Viscount Enomoto Takeaki,
- Minister of State for Communications.
The Constitution of the Empire of Japan
- Article 1. The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and governed
by a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal.
- Article 2. The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by Imperial
male descendants, according to the provisions of the Imperial House Law.
- Article 3. The Emperor is sacred and inviolable.
- Article 4. The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in
Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions
of the present Constitution.
- Article 5. The Emperor exercises the legislative power with the
consent of the Imperial Diet.
- Article 6. The Emperor gives sanction to laws, and orders them
to be promulgated and executed.
- Article 7. The Emperor convokes the Imperial Diet, opens, closes
and prorogues it, and dissolves the House of Representatives.
- Article 8. The Emperor, in consequence of an urgent necessity
to maintain public safety or to avert public calamities, issues, when the Imperial
Diet is not sitting, Imperial Ordinances in the place of law.
(2) Such Imperial Ordinances are to be laid before the Imperial Diet at its next
session, and when the Diet does not approve the said Ordinances, the Government
shall declare them to be invalid for the future.
- Article 9. The Emperor issues or causes to be issued, the Ordinances
necessary for the carrying out of the laws, or for the maintenance of the public
peace and order, and for the promotion of the welfare of the subjects. But no
Ordinance shall in any way alter any of the existing laws.
- Article 10. The Emperor determines the organization of the different
branches of the administration, and salaries of all civil and military officers,
and appoints and dismisses the same. Exceptions especially provided for in the
present Constitution or in other laws, shall be in accordance with the respective
provisions (bearing thereon).
- Article 11. The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and
Navy.
- Article 12. The Emperor determines the organization and peace
standing of the Army and Navy.
- Article 13. The Emperor declares war, makes peace, and concludes
treaties.
- Article 14. The Emperor proclaims the law of siege.
(2) The conditions and effects of the law of siege shall be determined by law.
- Article 15. The Emperor confers titles of nobility, rank, orders
and other marks of honor.
- Article 16. The Emperor orders amnesty, pardon, commutation of
punishments and rehabilitation.
- Article 17. A Regency shall be instituted in conformity with
the provisions of the Imperial House Law.
(2) The Regent shall exercise the powers appertaining to the Emperor in His name.
- Article 18. The conditions necessary for being a Japanese subject
shall be determined by law.
- Article 19. Japanese subjects may, according to qualifications
determined in laws or ordinances, be appointed to civil or military offices equally,
and many fill any other public offices.
- Article 20. Japanese subjects are amenable to service in the
Army or Navy, according to the provisions of law.
- Article 21. Japanese subjects are amenable to the duty of paying
taxes, according to the provisions of law.
- Article 22. Japanese subjects shall have the liberty of abode
and of changing the same within the limits of the law.
- Article 23. No Japanese subject shall be arrested, detained,
tried or punished, unless according to law.
- Article 24. No Japanese subject shall be deprived of his right
of being tried by the judges determined by law.
- Article 25. Except in the cases provided for in the law, the
house of no Japanese subject shall be entered or searched without his consent.
- Article 26. Except in the cases mentioned in the law, the secrecy
of the letters of every Japanese subject shall remain inviolate.
- Article 27. The right of property of every Japanese subject shall
remain inviolate.
(2) Measures necessary to be taken for the public benefit shall be any provided
for by law.
- Article 28. Japanese subjects shall, within limits not prejudicial
to peace and order, and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects, enjoy freedom
of religious belief.
- Article 29. Japanese subjects shall, within the limits of law,
enjoy the liberty of speech, writing, publication, public meetings and associations.
- Article 30. Japanese subjects may present petitions, by observing
the proper forms of respect, and by complying with the rules specially provided
for the same.
- Article 31. The provisions contained in the present Chapter shall
not affect the exercise of the powers appertaining to the Emperor, in times of
war or in cases of a national emergency.
- Article 32. Each and every one of the provisions contained in
the preceding Articles of the present Chapter, that are not in conflict with the
laws or the rules and discipline of the Army and Navy, shall apply to the officers
and men of the Army and of the Navy.
- Article 33. The Imperial Diet shall consist of two Houses, a
House of Peers and a House of Representatives.
- Article 34. The House of Peers shall, in accordance with the
Ordinance concerning the House of Peers, be composed of the members of the Imperial
Family, of the orders of nobility, and of those persons, who have been nominated
thereto by the Emperor.
- Article 35. The House of Representatives shall be composed of
Members elected by the people, according to the provisions of the Law of Election.
- Article 36. No one can at one and the same time be a Member of
both Houses.
- Article 37. Every law requires the consent of the Imperial Diet.
- Article 38. Both Houses shall vote upon projects of law submitted
to it by the Government, and may respectively initiate projects of law.
- Article 39. A Bill, which has been rejected by either the one
or the other of the two Houses, shall not be again brought in during the same
session.
- Article 40. Both Houses can make representations to the Government,
as to laws or upon any other subject. When, however, such representations are
not accepted, they cannot be made a second time during the same session.
- Article 41. The Imperial Diet shall be convoked every year.
- Article 42. A session of the Imperial Diet shall last during
three months. In case of necessity, the duration of a session may be prolonged
by the Imperial Order.
- Article 43. When urgent necessity arises, an extraordinary session
may be convoked, in addition to the ordinary one.
(2) The duration of an extraordinary session shall be determined by Imperial Order.
- Article 44. The opening, closing, prolongation of session and
prorogation of the Imperial Diet, shall be effected simultaneously for both Houses.
(2) In case the House of Representatives has been ordered to dissolve, the House
of Peers shall at the same time be prorogued.
- Article 45. When the House of Representatives has been ordered
to dissolve, Members shall be caused by Imperial Order to be newly elected, and
the new House shall be convoked within five months from the day of dissolution.
- Article 46. No debate can be opened and no vote can be taken
in either House of the Imperial Diet, unless not less than one third of the whole
number of the Members thereof is present.
- Article 47. Votes shall be taken in both Houses by absolute majority.
In the case of a tie vote, the President shall have the casting vote.
- Article 48. The deliberations of both Houses shall be held in
public. The deliberations may, however, upon demand of the Government or by resolution
of the House, be held in secret sitting.
- Article 49. Both Houses of the Imperial Diet may respectively
present addresses to the Emperor.
- Article 50. Both Houses may receive petitions presented by subjects.
- Article 51. Both Houses may enact, besides what is provided for
in the present Constitution and in the Law of the Houses, rules necessary for
the management of their internal affairs.
- Article 52. No Member of either House shall be held responsible
outside the respective Houses, for any opinion uttered or for any vote given in
the House. When, however, a Member himself has given publicity to his opinions
by public speech, by documents in print or in writing, or by any other similar
means, he shall, in the matter, be amenable to the general law.
- Article 53. The Members of both Houses shall, during the session,
be free from arrest, unless with the consent of the House, except in cases of
flagrant delicts, or of offences connected with a state of internal commotion
or with a foreign trouble.
- Article 54. The Ministers of State and the Delegates of the Government
may, at any time, take seats and speak in either House.
- Article 55. The respective Ministers of State shall give their
advice to the Emperor, and be responsible for it.
(2) All Laws, Imperial Ordinances, and Imperial Rescripts of whatever kind, that
relate to the affairs of the State, require the countersignature of a Minister
of State.
- Article 56. The Privy Councillors shall, in accordance with the
provisions for the organization of the Privy Council, deliberate upon important
matters of State, when they have been consulted by the Emperor.
- Article 57. The Judicature shall be exercised by the Courts of
Law according to law, in the name of the Emperor.
(2) The organization of the Courts of Law shall be determined by law.
- Article 58. The judges shall be appointed from among those, who
possess proper qualifications according to law.
(2) No judge shall be deprived of his position, unless by way of criminal sentence
or disciplinary punishment.
(3) Rules for disciplinary punishment shall be determined by law.
- Article 59. Trials and judgments of a Court shall be conducted
publicly. When, however, there exists any fear that, such publicity may be prejudicial
to peace and order, or to the maintenance of public morality, the public trial
may be suspended by provisions of law or by the decision of the Court of Law.
- Article 60. All matters, that fall within the competency of a
special Court, shall be specially provided for by law.
- Article 61. No suit at law, which relates to rights alleged to
have been infringed by the illegal measures of the executive authorities, and
which shall come within the competency of the Court of Administrative Litigation
specially established by law, shall be taken cognizance of by a Court of Law.
- Article 62. The imposition of a new tax or the modification of
the rates (of an existing one) shall be determined by law.
(2) However, all such administrative fees or other revenue having the nature of
compensation shall not fall within the category of the above clause.
(3) The raising of national loans and the contracting of other liabilities to
the charge of the National Treasury, except those that are provided in the Budget,
shall require the consent of the Imperial Diet.
- Article 63. The taxes levied at present shall, in so far as are
not remodelled by new law, be collected according to the old system.
- Article 64. The expenditure and revenue of the State require
the consent of the Imperial Diet by means of an annual Budget.
(2) Any and all expenditures overpassing the appropriations set forth in the Titles
and Paragraphs of the Budget, or that are not provided for in the Budget, shall
subsequently require the approbation of the Imperial Diet.
- Article 65. The Budget shall be first laid before the House of
Representatives.
- Article 66. The expenditures of the Imperial House shall be defrayed
every year out of the National Treasury, according to the present fixed amount
for the same, and shall not require the consent thereto of the Imperial Diet,
except in case an increase thereof is found necessary.
- Article 67. Those already fixed expenditures based by the Constitution
upon the powers appertaining to the Emperor, and such expenditures as may have
arisen by the effect of law, or that appertain to the legal obligations of the
Government, shall be neither rejected nor reduced by the Imperial Diet, without
the concurrence of the Government.
- Article 68. In order to meet special requirements, the Government
may ask the consent of the Imperial Diet to a certain amount as a Continuing Expenditure
Fund, for a previously fixed number of years.
- Article 69. In order to supply deficiencies, which are unavoidable,
in the Budget, and to meet requirements unprovided for in the same, a Reserve
Fund shall be provided in the Budget.
- Article 70. When the Imperial Diet cannot be convoked, owing
to the external or internal condition of the country, in case of urgent need for
the maintenance of public safety, the Government may take all necessary financial
measures, by means of an Imperial Ordinance.
(2) In the case mentioned in the preceding clause, the matter shall be submitted
to the Imperial Diet at its next session, and its approbation shall be obtained
thereto.
- Article 71. When the Imperial Diet has not voted on the Budget,
or when the Budget has not been brought into actual existence, the Government
shall carry out the Budget of the preceding year.
- Article 72. The final account of the expenditures and revenues
of the State shall be verified and confirmed by the Board of Audit, and it shall
be submitted by the Government to the Imperial Diet, together with the report
of verification of the said Board.
(2) The organization and competency of the Board of Audit shall be determined
by law separately.
- Article 73. When it has become necessary in
future to amend the provisions of the present Constitution, a project to that
effect shall be submitted to the Imperial Diet by Imperial Order.
(2) In the above case, neither House can open the debate, unless not less than
two thirds of the whole number of Members are present, and no amendment can be
passed, unless a majority of not less than two thirds of the Members present is
obtained.
- Article 74. No modification of the Imperial House Law shall be
required to be submitted to the deliberation of the Imperial Diet.
(2) No provision of the present Constitution can be modified by the Imperial House
Law.
- Article 75. No modification can be introduced into the Constitution,
or into the Imperial House Law, during the time of a Regency.
- Article 76. Existing legal enactments, such as laws, regulations,
Ordinances, or by whatever names they may be called, shall, so far as they do
not conflict with the present Constitution, continue in force.
(2) All existing contracts or orders, that entail obligations upon the Government,
and that are connected with expenditure, shall come within the scope of Article
67.
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