The Peter A. Allard School of Law Allard Research Commons Faculty Publications Allard Faculty Publications 2013 Cloudy Weather, with Occasional Sunshine: Consumer Loans, the Legislature, and the Supreme Court of Japan Shigenori Matsui Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/fac_pubs Part of the Courts Commons, and the Jurisprudence Commons Citation Details Shigenori Matsui, "Cloudy Weather, with Occasional Sunshine: Consumer Loans, the Legislature, and the Supreme Court of Japan" (2013) 22:3 Pac Rim L & Pol'y J 555. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Allard Faculty Publications at Allard Research Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Allard Research Commons. Compilation © 2013 Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal Association CLOUDY WEATHER, WITH OCCASIONAL SUNSHINE: CONSUMER LOANS, THE LEGISLATURE, AND THE SUPREME COURT OF JAPAN Shigenori Matsui† Abstract: The Supreme Court of Japan, despite its well-known passive and conservative stance towards constitutional adjudication, occasionally shows quite a creative and liberal attitude. Recently, the Supreme Court of Japan has shown this attitude in its development of pro-consumer jurisprudence involving consumer loan cases. This development is still more noteworthy because the Supreme Court of Japan ignored the legislature’s intent to overturn its previous judgments and practically wiped out a statutory provision enacted by the legislature. As a result of this development, millions of consumers could demand refunds from consumer loan companies, and consumer loan companies went into serious financial troubles, triggering massive reorganization of the industry.