Issue of infringement of supreme command authority

A constitutional debate arose over the merits of the government's decision to issue a resolution to the London Naval Treaty in 1930 (Showa 5). The Meiji Constitution stipulated that the unification of state affairs and supreme command should ultimately be realized by the Emperor, but the Emperor himself strictly adhered to the limits of a constitutional monarch and did not attempt to unify power, so the dispute over the authority of the organ of state affairs (the government) and the organ of supreme command (the military) was extremely fierce. At the time of ratification of the treaty, opponents of the treaty criticized the government for violating the independence of supreme command by deciding on the number of troops without the approval of the Naval General Staff, while the government countered by arguing that since the power to decide on the number of troops was within the government's power, it was not an infringement of supreme command, and the arguments of both sides were at a stalemate. Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi managed to resolve the situation by replacing the treaty's opponents, Chief of the Naval General Staff Kato Hiroharu and Deputy Chief of the Naval General Staff Suetsugu Nobumasa, and completed the ratification of the treaty. However, this had a major impact on the military and right-wing civilians, and was the indirect cause of the later shooting of Prime Minister Hamaguchi and the attempted assassination of Baron Wakatsuki Reijiro and Minister of Justice Koyama Matsukichi.

[Osamu Terasaki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1930年（昭和5）ロンドン海軍軍縮条約の政府回訓決定の是非をめぐっておこった憲法論争。明治憲法は、国務と統帥の一元化を究極的には天皇によって実現すべきことを規定していたが、天皇自身は立憲君主の分限を厳守し権力の統合者になろうとはしなかったため、国務機関（政府）と統帥機関（軍部）の権限をめぐる争いは熾烈(しれつ)を極めた。条約批准にあたり、条約反対派は、政府が海軍軍令部の承認を得ずに兵力量を決定することは統帥権の独立を犯すものであると政府を批判し、他方政府側は、兵力量の決定権は政府側にあるから統帥権干犯ではないと応戦、両者の主張は平行線となった。浜口雄幸(おさち)首相は条約反対派の加藤寛治(ひろはる)軍令部長、末次信正(すえつぐのぶまさ)同次長を更迭することにより事態を収拾、条約批准を終えたが、このことが軍部、民間右翼に与えた影響は大きく、後の浜口首相狙撃(そげき)事件、若槻(わかつき)礼次郎男爵・小山松吉法相暗殺未遂事件などの遠因となった。

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