Paper short abstract:

Tomii Masa’akira was able to study at the Faculty of Law in Lyon thanks to the financial aid of Émile Guimet. Considering this private support, this paper juxtaposes Tomii’s study abroad with that of government-supported students, such as Ume Kenjirō, as well as considers its implications.

Paper long abstract:

France was one of the main sources of Japan’s legal transplant when law was being westernized during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Soon after the first judicial court was founded at Tokyo in 1871, education on French law began and the government invited Gustave Émile Boissonade (1825-1910) to teach it at the School of Law attached to the Ministry of Justice. To further the judicial system, some of his students were sent to Paris to obtain a bachelor’s degree with financial aid provided by the Japanese government.

Next to Paris, the government also supported top graduates from this school to earn a doctoral degree from the Faculty of Law in Lyon. Such an example is Ume Kenjirō (1860-1910), who was sent there in 1886 and obtained his degree in 1889. His thesis dealt with the contract of compromise which covered Roman Law, ancient and present French Law, and even Boissonade’s Japanese Civil Code Draft. Because of his achievements, he was immediately appointed as professor at Tokyo Imperial University.

Tomii Masa’akira (1858-1935), in contrast, does not fit in the picture painted above. His application to the School of Law had been denied in 1876, and, yet, he obtained his doctoral degree from the Faculty of Law in Lyon in 1882. It was not the Japanese government but Émile Guimet (1936-1918) who supported him. Tomii joined Guimet to Lyon in 1877 to aid him with the establishment of a museum of oriental arts. Still eager to start his studies on law, Tomii earned a bachelor’s degree in 1880 and his doctoral degree only two years later. Unlike Ume, Tomii’s future career in Japan was unsure, but he was nevertheless appointed as professor at the Tokyo Imperial University. As result, Ume and Tomii, despite their different paths, became colleagues and later co-wrote the Meiji Civil Code.

This paper considers the different path taken by Tomii and interprets his study abroad in the broader framework of students from the School of Law in Tokyo who received government support and were sent to Paris and, like Ume, to Lyon.