Law on the Imperial Household
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: |
皇室 典範 kōshitsu tempan "Law on the Imperial Household" English Imperial House Act |
| Type: | hōritsu |
| Number: |
昭和 22 年 1 月 16 日 法律 第 3 号 Law No. 3 of January 16 Shōwa 22 (1947) |
| Last change by: | Law No. 63 of June 9, Heisei 29 (2017) [Abdication of Tennō Akihito ] |
| Legal text on the Internet: | law.e-gov.go.jp |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version . Only the Japanese legal texts have legal effect, not translations into English or other languages. | |
The Imperial Household Law ( Japanese 皇室 典範 , kōshitsu tempan ) of 1947 is a Japanese statute that regulates the succession of the chrysanthemum throne , membership in the imperial family and other matters relating to the administration of the imperial household . It was passed on January 16, 1947 at the last session of the Imperial Parliament. It replaces its predecessor of the same name from 1889, which, in addition to the Meiji constitution, also had constitutional status and could only be changed with the consent of the emperor. The revised statute is clearly subordinate to the Japanese constitution of May 3, 1947. In Chapter 1: Article 2 of the Constitution: "The Imperial Throne shall be dynastic and inheritable, in accordance with the Imperial Household Law enacted by Parliament."
Hastily drafted by Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru's government during the American occupation, the law was designed to bring legislation relating to the imperial budget into line with the new "democratized" constitution. The law drastically restricted membership in the imperial family, namely to Emperor Hirohito's immediate family, his widowed mother, and the families of his three brothers. The sidelines of the imperial family, the shinnōke and ōke , which were traditionally a source of potential heirs to the throne if the main line had no heir, were abolished, as was the nobility itself (the 51 members of the eleven subsidiary branches were abolished on October 14, 1947 formally removed from the household register and made ordinary citizens). The new law adopted the seniority principle from the 1889 law and the Meiji constitution, but further restricted the line of succession to legally born sons, grandchildren and descendants from the male line of an emperor. Before that, sons and grandchildren born of concubines and their descendants could succeed an emperor. Finally, the law also contained mechanisms for regulating the future size of the imperial family (and thus also the financial burden on the state).
The chapters of the Budget Act regulate:
- The order of succession
- Establishing a regency should the emperor be a minor or suffer from serious ailments
- Membership in the imperial family
- The composition of the Council of the Imperial Household
- The names and titles of the emperor and members of the imperial family
- The weddings of the Emperor, the Crown Prince and the Prince of Blood
- The rites for imperial burials, imperial mausoleums, and the maintenance of the imperial family register
Chapter 1: Article 1 of the law states: "The imperial throne of Japan is to be ascended by legitimate male descendants from the male line of the imperial ancestors."
- The emperor's eldest son
- The eldest son of the emperor's eldest son
- Other descendants of the emperor's eldest son
- The second eldest son of the emperor and his descendants
- Other descendants of the emperor
- Brothers of the emperor and their descendants
- Uncle of the emperor and their descendants
Subsequent changes
- May 31, 1949: Law No. 134 ( 総 理 府 設置 法 の 制定 等 に 伴 う 関係 法令 の 整理 等 に 関 す る 法律 , Sōrifu setchi-hō no seitei-tō ni tomonau kankei hōrei no seiri-tō ni kansuru hōritsu institution ; fu )
- June 9, 2017: Law No. 63 ( 天皇 の 退位 等 に 関 す る 皇室 典範 特例 法 , Ten'nō no taii-tō ni kansuru kōshitsudenpan tokurei-hō; enabling Tennō Akihito to abdicate )
Web links
- Kobayashi Hiroshi: "Kōshitsu Tenpan" . In: Encyclopedia of Shinto. Kokugaku-in , March 28, 2007 (English)
- Wording of the law (English)
swell
- ↑ cf. Ramming, Martin; Japan manual; Berlin 1941
- ↑ Constitution ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl , Japan Times, March 27, 2007.
- ^ Wording of the law ( Memento of March 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
