Kenzo Takayanagi

Legal scholar. Born in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture on May 11, 1887. After graduating from the Faculty of Law of Tokyo Imperial University in 1912 (Taisho 1), he became an assistant professor there in 1918. From 1915 he studied abroad in Europe and the United States for five years, and after returning to Japan he became a professor, teaching Anglo-American law and devoting himself to university administration. In 1949 (Showa 24), he became the president of Seikei University, a position he held until 1957. For eight years, from 1957 to 1965, he devoted himself to investigating and researching the issue of constitutional reform as chairman of the Constitution Research Council. He died in Hong Kong on June 11, 1967 (Showa 42).

During his academic life, he was well known for his friendship and exchange with American legal scholars such as Pound and Wigmore. In the field of Anglo-American law research, he tried to understand Anglo-American law in comparison with continental law, which is based on codification, without being bound by precedent-based legalism. He also studied the British idea of ​​the supremacy of law and the rule of law, and traced the supremacy of judicial power as a system of judicial constitutional guarantee in the mid-1930s, when dictatorial tendencies due to political pressure from the military were growing in Japan. This is evidence that his research on foreign laws was supported by his methodological assertion that it is necessary to clarify the ideological background of a legal system, rather than limiting it to analyzing and elucidating its normative factors. He also served as a defense lawyer for Class A war criminals at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, and internationally as a judge at the Permanent Court of Arbitration. His major works include "The Foundations of Anglo-American Law," "The Theory of the Sources of Anglo-American Law," and "The Supremacy of Judicial Power."

[Yoshio Mizuta]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

法学者。明治20年5月11日埼玉県熊谷(くまがや)に生まれる。1912年（大正1）東京帝国大学法科大学卒業後、13年同大学助教授となる。15年から5年間欧米に留学し、帰国後教授となり、英米法を教え、学内行政にも力を尽くした。49年（昭和24）成蹊(せいけい)大学学長となり、57年までその職にあった。57年から65年までの8年間、憲法調査会会長として憲法の改正問題の調査、研究に没頭した。67年（昭和42）6月11日香港(ホンコン)で没した。

　彼の学問的生活におけるアメリカの法学者パウンド、ウィグモアらとの親交、交流は有名である。英米法研究の分野では、その判例主義にとらわれることなく、英米法を、成文法主義をとる大陸法との比較において理解しようとした。また、イギリスのダイシーによる法の優位、法の支配の思想を学んで、1930年代の中ごろ、わが国において軍部の政治的圧力による独裁的傾向が高まっているなかで、司法的憲法保障制度としての司法権の優位を跡づけた。これは彼の外国法研究が、法制度の規範的要因の分析、解明に終始することなく、その思想的背景を明らかにすることが必要であるとするその方法論的主張に裏づけられていた証左であろう。なお、極東国際軍事裁判のときにはA級戦犯の弁護人を務め、国際的には常設仲裁裁判所の裁判官を務めた。主著に『英米法の基礎』『英米法源理論』『司法権の優位』などがある。

［水田義雄］

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