Documents with Commentaries Part 2 Creation of Various Proposals to Reform the Constitution
Masatsugu Inada was a constitutional scholar who had been acutely aware of the need for constitutional reform since before the termination of war, and he drafted a proposal that either removed or amended every article, which he submitted through Toshiyoshi Miyazawa to Minister of State Joji Matsumoto on December 24, 1945. This proposal, modeled after the British system, was based on "government by the monarch and his subjects in union," and expanded protection of human rights by reference to that of the Constitution of United States.
Following that, Inada moved forward with the drafting of his proposal, and founded the Constitution Discussion Society with Yukio Ozaki, Shigeo Iwanami, Ikujiro Watanabe, Hideto Ishida, and Shinkichi Unno. Inada made revisions mostly in collaboration with Unno, a lawyer and member of the Socialist Party's Constitutional Reform Committee, and personally submitted the final draft proposal, which ran nine chapters with 90 articles including a preamble, to Minister of State Takeshige Ishiguro on March 5. This proposal vested the legislative powers in the Emperor and the Diet, and called for the establishment of the House of Councillors from among members of local assemblies, vocational representatives, and people of learning and experience, and among other things vested the courts with the power of judicial review of constitutionality.
| Actual Title of Source | Kenpo Kaisei Shian, Tokyo Bunrika Daigaku Jokyoju, Inada Masatsugu |
|---|---|
| Date | [Announced December 28, 1945] |
| Document Number | Irie Toshio Papers: 11 |
| Repository (reproduction) | |
| Repository | National Diet Library |
| Note |
| Actual Title of Source | Kenpo Kondankai no Nihonkoku Kenpo Soan |
|---|---|
| Date | [Announced March 5, 1946] |
| Document Number | Irie Toshio Papers: 29 |
| Repository (reproduction) | |
| Repository | National Diet Library |
| Note | The proposal dated March 4, 1946 that was submitted to Prime Minister Shidehara and Minister of State Matsumoto is in the "Shidehara Kijuro Papers:1 Regarding Enactment of the Constitution of Japan (No. 2)" |
