Gustave Émile Boissonade de Fontarabie (7 June 1825 – 27 June 1910) was a French

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the a ...

, responsible for drafting much of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

civil code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...

during the

Meiji Era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

, and honored as one of the founders of modern Japan's legal system.

Biography

Boissonade was born in

Vincennes Vincennes (; ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Vincennes is famous for its castle: the Château de Vincennes. It is next to but does not include the ...

in 1825 to the famous scholar

Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie (12 August 17748 September 1857) was a French classical scholar. Life He was born in Paris. In 1792 he entered the public service during the administration of Charles François Dumouriez, General Dumouriez ...

. He was a brilliant law student, and received his

doctorate of law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

with honours from the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

in 1853. He was in charge of law courses at Paris University until 1864, and was assistant law professor at the

University of Grenoble The (, ''Grenoble Alps University'', abbr. UGA) is a Grands établissements, ''grand établissement'' in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 researchers. Es ...

until 1867. In 1873 he was invited to lecture on constitutional and criminal law to some Japanese visitors to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and received an invitation to work in Japan by the Japanese

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

as one of several foreign legal scholars needed to assist with the drafting of Japan's legal codes and in the renegotiation of the

unequal treaties The unequal treaties were a series of agreements made between Asian countries—most notably Qing China, Tokugawa Japan and Joseon Korea—and Western countries—most notably the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Unit ...

. Boissonade remained in Japan for more than 21 years, from 1873 to 1895, and worked as an instructor in the Law School of the Ministry of Justice. He worked closely with

Ume Kenjirō was a legal scholar in Meiji period Japan, and a founder of Hosei University. Life and career Ume was born the second son of the domain doctor of Matsue domain, Izumo Province (present-day Shimane Prefecture)Chūgoku region, Japan. He was sen ...

and

Hozumi Nobushige Baron was a Japanese statesman and jurist of the Meiji period. Hozumi was born in Uwajima Domain, Iyo Province (present-day Ehime Prefecture) as the second son to a family of ''kokugaku'' scholars. He graduated from the ''Kaisei Gakko'', (the ...

in drafting much of Japan's

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

and civil law. He was also an expert in

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

, and was legal advisor to the government in the

Taiwan Expedition of 1874 The Japanese punitive expedition to Taiwan in 1874, referred to in Japan as the and in Taiwan and mainland China as the Mudan incident (), was a punitive expedition launched by the Japanese ostensibly in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryu ...

. He was named a consultant to the ''

Genrōin The was a Government of Meiji Japan#Establishment of a national assembly, national assembly in early Meiji period, Meiji Japan, established after the Osaka Conference of 1875. It is also referred to as the Senate of Japan, being the word used ...

'' in 1875. He also opposed

Inoue Kaoru Marquess Inoue Kaoru (井上馨, January 16, 1836 – September 1, 1915) was a Japanese politician and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. As one of the senior statesmen ('' Genrō'') in ...

's 1887 proposal to allow non-Japanese

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

s, and cautioned against too rapid movement towards revision of the

. He was awarded the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

(2nd degree) in 1876 and was thus one of the few foreigners so honored at that time. Today, he is honored as one of the founders of

Hosei University formerly known as Tokyo University of Law (東京法学社, Tokyo Hogakusha) is a top research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Hosei University and four other private universities in Tokyo are collectively known as "MARCH (Japanese univers ...

. The "Boissonade Tower", the Ichigaya campus of Hosei University halfway between

Ichigaya is an area in the eastern portion of Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Places in Ichigaya *Hosei University Ichigaya Campus *Chuo University Graduate School *Ministry of Defense (Japan), Ministry of Defense headquarters: Formerly Headqua ...

and

Iidabashi is a district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was in the former ward of Kōjimachi, which existed in Tokyo until 1947. Etymology Iidabashi is named after a nearby bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical o ...

stations in central Tokyo, a 26-story building completed in 2000, was named after him. He returned to France in 1895 and lived in

Antibes Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Ca ...

, where his tomb is located.

External links

Hosei University Boissonade Institute of Modern Law and Politics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boissonade, Gustave Emile Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-era Japan French expatriates in Japan 19th-century French jurists Foreign educators in Japan 1825 births 1910 deaths Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun University of Paris alumni Academic staff of the University of Paris Academic staff of Grenoble Alpes University

Biography

See also

External links