Crime of a group of criminals

In the old Criminal Code that came into force on January 1, 1882 (Meiji 15), this crime was named collective rioting by a large number of people. It was established to suppress the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. It refers to the crime of assembling a large number of people to riot, coercing government officials, refusing to listen to their explanations, killing people, and destroying or burning down houses. It was decided that punishment would be divided into ringleaders, instigators, and associates. It was not included in the draft of the Japanese Criminal Code by the French legal scholar Boissonade, who visited Japan in the early Meiji period, but was added at the request of the Senate's Criminal Code Draft Review Bureau. It is said to have inherited the provisions on violent groups in the New Code of Law and Revised Code. It was applied to the violent groups involved in the Ashio Copper Mine Pollution Problem, the Hibiya Riot Incident, and other social movements. The Penal Code enacted in 1907 (Meiji 40) made it a crime of rioting, and the revision of the Penal Code in 1995 (Heisei 7) changed it to a crime of rioting.

[Yamamoto Shiro]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1882年（明治15）1月1日施行の旧刑法において、多人数の集団的暴動を称した罪名。自由民権運動弾圧のために制定された。多人数を集合せしめて暴動し、官吏を強迫し、また官吏の説諭に服せず、人を殺害し、家屋などを破壊・焼失した罪をいう。首魁(しゅかい)、教唆(きょうさ)者、付和随行者に分けて処分することを決めている。明治初年に来日したフランスの法学者ボアソナードの日本刑法草案にはなかったが、元老院の刑法草案審査局の要求によって挿入された。新律綱領、改定律例の兇徒聚衆の規定を継承したものといわれる。足尾鉱毒問題における兇徒聚衆事件や日比谷焼打事件その他社会運動の鎮圧に適用された。1907年（明治40）制定の刑法で騒擾(そうじょう)罪に、1995年（平成7）の刑法改正で騒乱罪に変わった。

［山本四郎］

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