Promotion and Development of Law-Related Education

Law-related education aims to give the general public, who are not legal professionals, the opportunity to understand the laws, the justice system and the values behind them and to acquire a legal frame of mind.

In Japan, the expansion of the range of free activities of the people through various types of reform requires more and more that disputes be prevented in advance and that any disputes that have occurred be resolved fairly based on the law. Furthermore, as is symbolized by the participation system in criminal proceedings (“saiban-in system”), each and every one of the people must take active part in the justice system in order that the justice system be fully supported by the people. This has made the role of law-related education even more important in deepening understanding of the laws and the justice system.

The Ministry of Justice established the Study Group for Law-Related Education and the conference for Promotion of Law-Related Education, studied issues concerning law-related education, and presented teaching materials for junior high school students (November 2004), teaching materials on the participation system in criminal proceedings (February 2007) and practical question and answer regarding law-related education classes (Ｍarch 2007). These materials are posted on the Ministry of Justice’s website, http//www.moj.go.jp.

At present, in order to promote law-related education even further, the Conference for Promotion of Law-Related Education is studying matters related to implementation of law-related education, enhancement of the capability of teachers teaching law-related education, creation of teaching material for elementary school students and research on law-related education concerning private law as well as other tasks.

In the future as well, the Ministry of Justice will take various measures to promote and develop law-related education.
(Judicial System Department)

Construction of a justice system that meets the needs of the people

- Reform of the civil justice system
-- Improvement and acceleration of civil procedures (promotion of planned proceedings, introduction of an expert commissioner system and other items)
-- Intensified efforts in cases involving intellectual property rights (establishment of the Intellectual Property High Court and other items)
-- Intensified efforts in cases involving labor relations (establishment of a labor dispute adjudication system and other items)
-- Reinforcement of the functions of the family courts and summary courts
-- Improvement of the civil execution system
-- Review of the filing fees
-- Enhancement and activation of ADR (introduction of a certification system by the Minister of Justice for private enterprises’ ADR services and other items)
-- Reform of the administrative litigation system
- Reform of the criminal justice system
-- Improvement and acceleration of criminal procedures (establishment of new pretrial arrangement proceedings and other items)
-- Establishment of a court-appointed defense counsel system for suspects and defendants
-- Enhancement of the functions of the Committee of the Inquest for Prosecution
- Responses to internationalization
-- Establishment of an arbitration legal scheme along the lines of international standards
-- Promotion of infrastructure development for translation of Japanese laws
-- Commitment to international cooperation, including legal technical assistance
- Implementation of comprehensive legal support
-- Establishment of the Japan Legal Support Center

Reform of the judicial community to support the justice system

- Expansion of the legal population
-- Increase in the number of candidates passing the bar exam
- Reform of the legal training system
-- Introduction of a new legal training system coordinating graduate law schools, the bar exam and legal apprenticeship
-- Establishment of a system of sending judges and prosecutors to graduate law schools to teach practical skills
- Reform of the attorneys system
-- Liberalization of the fees of attorneys-at-law
-- Establishment of new disciplinary procedures
-- Expansion of the special measure for qualifications of attorney-at-law
- Reform of the prosecutors system
-- Establishment of a system for prosecutors to experience practicing attorneys’ jobs on a temporary basis
- Reform of the judges system
-- Introduction of a civil conciliators and family affairs conciliators system
-- Establishment of a system for assistant judges to experience practicing attorneys’ jobs on a temporary basis
-- Establishment of the Advisory Committee of the Supreme Court for the Nomination of Lower Court Judges
-- Reinforcement of the release of information on the Supreme Court Justices to the general public for review
-- Establishment of the District Court Committees

Establishment of a popular base
(participation of the general public in the justice system)

- New participation system in criminal proceedings
-- Introduction of the saiban-in system
- Promotion and development of law-related education
-- Establishment of the Conference for Promotion of Law-Related Education