BOOK: Giorgio Fabio COLOMBO, Justice and International Law in Meiji Japan The María Luz Incident and the Dawn of Modernity [Routledge Research in Legal History] (London: Routledge, 2024), 134 p. ISBN 9781032249032, € 31,99

 

(image source: Routledge)

Abstract:

This book carries out a comprehensive analysis of the María Luz incident, a truly significant episode in Japanese and world history, from a legal perspective. In July 1872, the María Luz, a barque flying the Peruvian flag, carried Chinese indentured servants from Macau to Peru. After the ship stopped for repairs in Kanagawa Bay, a number of legal issues arose that were destined to change the perception and use of the law in Japan forever. The case had a tremendous impact on the collective imagination, both Japanese and international: it is one of the first occurrences in which an Asian country decided to resist the pressure of a Western nation, and responded using the most refined tools of domestic and international law. Moreover, the final outcome of the case (arbitration in front of the Czar of Russia) marks the debut of Japan on the stage of international arbitration. While historians have written widely on the subject, the legal importance of this event has been relatively neglected. This book uses the case to explore the technical legal issues Japan was facing in its transition from pre-modernity to modernity. These include unequal treaties, extraterritoriality clauses, the need to establish an updated judicial system, and a delicate balance between asserting sovereignty and resorting to diplomacy in solving disputes involving foreigners. Based on original documents, this book is an invaluable resource for researchers and academics in the fields of legal history, dispute resolution, international law, Japanese history and Asian studies.

Table of contents:

Acknowledgement;  1. Introduction;  2. Background;  3. Criminal Proceedings;  4. Civil Proceedings;  5. International Dispute Resolution and Arbitration;  6. Conclusions – The legacy of the María Luz incident;  Index 

On the author:

Giorgio Fabio Colombo is Professor of Law at the Graduate School of Law, Nagoya University, where he is the Director of the Research Unit "Decolonizing Arbitration." He is also Visiting Professor of Japanese Law at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy, and Resident Research fellow of the Italian School of East Asian Studies (ISEAS). 

Read more here.