This book was undertaken to meet a need which the author has experienced, and which others have expressed. It is offered as an introductory study and makes no pretensions to completeness or finality. Materials in its field are scattered and, in many instances, rendered inaccessible by difficulties of language. General works in any Western language are few, and none attempts to cover the whole subject, even in outline. Japanese scholarly works are discussions of legal relations rather than descriptions of institutions or analyses of actual procedures. Monographs are even scarcer than general works. It has been necessary to depend largely upon translations of documents, newspaper materials, and interviews with Japanese and foreign scholars, officials, publicists, and politicians. Facilities for the translation of Japanese documents and treatises are difficult of access. There is urgent need that the indispensable collection edited by Dr. W. W. McLaren, Japanese Government Documents, to be supplemented with new volumes of translations covering the period since 1889, and that authoritative treatises of Japanese legal scholars be translated. It may, however, be pointed out that the works of Japanese scholars written in European languages, herein cited, all derive inspiration and substance from the recognized authorities Minobe, Hozumi, Uyesugi, Shimizu, Ichimura, Yoshino, Sasaki, Moriguchi, and others who customarily write in their own language and whose works still, unfortunately, await translation. Four sojourns in Japan in 1921, 1923, 1930, and 1931 have made it possible for the author to observe political life in that country through attendance at sessions of the Diet and of the courts and visits to ministries, to local government offices, and to the governments of Chosen and Kwantung Province. It was the authors good fortune that during the period of his 1930 visit a general election took place. Almost without exception, his inquiries met with the finest courtesy, and efforts were made to provide information concerning the activities under investigation. Many hours were given most graciously by officials high and low, university professors, missionaries, journalists, businessmen, students, and others.