File No. 1166/455.
Ambassador O’Brien to the Secretary of State.
Tokyo, November 12, 1909.
Sir: Supplementing the embassy’s dispatch No. 776 of July 27, 1909,1 regarding the Japanese-Korean agreement of July 12 last, providing for the delegation of the administration of justice and prisons in Korea to the Government of Japan, I have the honor to transmit translations of imperial ordinances Nos. 235 to 2441 promulgated in pursuance of that agreement on October 18, 1909, relating to the organization of the new judicature of the residency general. A summarized statement of the important features of the ordinances1 is also inclosed for the department’s reference.
The new judicial system of Korea went into force on the 1st instant. It superseded not only the native courts subject to the late Korean ministry of justice, but also the residents’ tribunals established in June, 1906. (See embassy’s dispatch No. 23, July 6, 1906.)2
The functions belonging to the minister of justice in Japan with reference to judicial and prison affairs are assumed under the reorganized system in Korea by the resident general. The administrative business of the new judicature is in charge of a department of justice, whose director acts subject to the control of the resident general. The constitution of the residency general courts appears to be identical with that of the courts in Japan, with one exception, namely, that appeals may be taken from a district court directly to the supreme court without going through a court of appeals.
The director of the department of justice, as probably also the other principal officials thereof, are to be Japanese subjects. The judges and public procurators are to consist of both Japanese and Korean subjects, but the latter discharge their functions only when, in a civil case, both the plaintiff and defendant are Korean subjects, [Page 399] or, in a criminal case, when the accused is a Korean subject. The judicial police are to be composed entirely of Japanese subjects.
The residency general courts have jurisdiction over both Korean and Japanese subjects in both civil and criminal cases. Korean laws are applied to Korean subjects, unless specially provided to the contrary by law or ordinance, and Japanese laws to Japanese subjects. In civil cases between Korean subjects and “those who are not Korean subjects,” however, Japanese laws are with certain exceptions applicable.
It is recalled in this connection that cases of infringement by American citizens of inventions, trade-marks, etc., in Korea, which since the conclusion of the treaty relating thereto have been under the jurisdiction of the residents’ tribunals, commencing with the 1st instant become subject to trial by the new courts.
It is reported that the reorganized judiciary in Korea will involve the erection of new buildings for 1 supreme court, 3 appeal courts, 8 district courts, 103 local courts, and 1 prison, and will necessitate an outlay by the Japanese treasury of 3,500,000 yen.
I have, etc.,
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- See Foreign Relations, 1906, p. 1036.↩