Globalization of legal cultures in the 19th century. Criminal trials, gender, and the public in Meiji Japan

Abstract: On a rainy summer night in 1887 a murder took place in one of Tokyo’s entertainment districts. A geisha known as Hanai Oume stabbed her lover to death. Oume’s open trial—shortly before the courts were opened to the general public for the first time—attracted widespread interest and caused a sensation. This article focuses on the courtroom as a place of encounter between the law and the public. The public trials of the Meiji period are a good starting-point for describing the implementation of Western law in Japan. It thereby addresses the problem of the globalization of legal cultures in the 19th century, a topic which has been largely ignored in global history.Moreover, a new cultural history of law that genuinely accounts for popular responses to legal reforms can give us a much more comprehensive picture of Japanese society in the mid-Meiji years. In summary, the convergence of fast-changing practices and omnipresent public interest in trials marks a short and specific.... http://www.inter-disciplines.org/index.php/indi/article/view/970

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Globalization of legal cultures in the 19th century. Criminal trials, gender, and the public in Meiji Japan ; volume:3 ; number:2 ; day:17 ; month:12 ; year:2012 ; InterDisciplines ; 3, Heft 2 (17.12.2012)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Hedinger, Daniel

Further information

• DOI: 10.4119/indi-970
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2018121115044074545340
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:57 AM CEST