Boston College Law School Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School Boston College Law School Faculty Papers 3-16-2005 Jury Trials in Japan Robert M. Bloom Boston College Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp Part of the Law and Society Commons Recommended Citation Robert M. Bloom. "Jury Trials in Japan." Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review 28, no.1 (2005): 35-68. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law School Faculty Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. JURY TRIALS IN JAPAN 1 Robert M. Bloom INTRODUCTION In the late 1980s, I hosted a group of Japanese lawyers and judges from the Osaka Bar Association Committee for Judicial System Reform, 2 a group interested in observing the jury system in the United Sta tes. I took them to the Massachusetts Superior Court 3 where they could observe jury trials. From the discussions I had with the visitors, it was clear that they were keenly interested in the concept of citizen participation in the legal process . Japan’s c ommitment to democracy has flourished for 60 years, and is enshrined in the preamble of its post -World War II 4 Constitution: “Government is a sacred trust of the people, the authority for which is derived from the people, the powers of which are exercised by the representatives of the people, and the benefits of which are enjoyed by * Professor of Law Boston College Law School 1 Au thor wishes to thank Franklin Schwarzer, Arielle Simon and Ben Steffans, students in the class of 2006 at Boston College Law School.