| About Jalha (The Japan Legal History Association) |
| The Japan Legal History Association was formally established on November 23rd 1949, as an association through which researchers occupied with the various aspects of the history of law could congregate and inspire each other. The members' areas of specialization ranged over Japanese, Oriental and Occidental societies, from ancient to contemporary times. |
| The Association's activities have centered on the conferences -- where the members gather to report on their research and to discuss ideas --, and the publication of the Legal History Review (Hoseishi Kenkyu). The conference held annually in Spring or early Summer. The Legal History Review has been published annually since 1951. The Review has not only contained scholarly articles contributed by current and past members, but also pieces providing a detailed overview of the state of a particular field of study, as well as reviews of important books and articles -- each volume contains several dozens of these reviews --, and a comprehensive bibliography containing books and articles in legal history that were published in the previous year. The bibliography is organized in accordance with the area and period dealt with in each work, and along with the other aspects enumerated above, it has been one of the distinctive features of the Review. |
| Alongside the above two main lines of activity pursued by the Association as a whole, there are also the activities of the three areal divisions, i.e. the Tokyo division, the Kinki division in the area around Osaka (both of which were founded in 1950), and the Chubu division, founded in 1990, whose center is in Nagoya. Each division has continuously organized study group meetings several times a year on average. On the publication side, the Association has produced such books as Keibatsu to Kokka Kenryoku (Criminal Punishment and State Power) (Sobunsha, 1960), and -- although the Association's name does not appear on the cover -- Kindaiho no Sai-teii (A Repositioning of Modern Law) (Sobunsha, 2001), the latter being a record of the symposium commemorating the Association's 50th anniversary; the Association ordered the special comittee to edit the book of younger members' contribution named Ho no Ryutu (Circulation of Law) for our 60th celebration in 2009. |
| Moreover, in October 2002 the Association's website was created, and its maintenance has formed an important line of activity. Owing much to the members in charge of its inception, my impression is that it stands out among the websites held by various academic societies, and believe that users of the website would agree. It is possible to obtain information from the website concerning all aspects of the Association's activities that have been enumerated above. Moreover, such features as the table of contents for the Legal History Review, the bibliography on legal history, and the search function usable for all data within the website would be of much use to not only to members, but also to any person seeking bibliographical information related to legal history. |
| (December 2018) |