Page:Constitutional imperialism in Japan (IA constitutionalim00clemrich).pdf/26

From the point of view of constitutionalism, the Japanese Imperial Diet should be one of the most important organs. But at the outset, Americans and British must be warned not to expect an institution like either the American Congress or the British Parliament. The Japanese national assembly is rather like the German institution and is, therefore, generally called the “Imperial Diet”. It is well known that German ideas of government were largely followed by Ito in drawing up the Japanese Constitution, because they seemed best fitted to Japanese Imperialism.

The Japanese Imperial Diet is bicameral: it consists of a House of Peers (Kizoku-in) and a House of Representatives (Shugi-in). The House of Peers is composed of a varying number of members (about 375),—part hereditary, part elective, and part appointive. The hereditary members are the imperial princes and the princes and marquises. The elective members are those chosen from among the counts, viscounts, and barons, and the highest taxpayers of each prefecture. The appointive members are those who are nominated by the Emperor “for meritorious services to the State and for erudition.” But the number of appointive members and of elective taxpayers “shall not exceed the number of the members having the title of nobility.” The hereditary members and the appointive members enjoy a life tenure; while the elective members serve for a term of seven years.

The membership of the House of Peers in the Thirty-sixth Session^[1] of the Imperial Diet was as follows: