What is Law-Related Education?

published: 2022-07-21Japanese

Have you heard the term “law-related education”? Some readers may have encountered it before.
This phrase is a translation of the American term “Law-Related Education (LRE).” In the definition given in the “Report” of the Ministry of Justice Law-Related Education Study Group, it refers to “education that gives ordinary people who are not legal experts an understanding of the law and the justice system and the values that form their foundation, and a legal way of thinking about things.”*1

Photo 1{br}Satō Nobuhiko, {i}Saibanin jidai no keiji tetsuzuki ni kansuru hōkyōiku kiso riron josetsu; Introduction to Fundamental Theory of Law-Related Education concerning Criminal Procedure in the Saiban-in(Lay Judge in Japan) Era{/i}] (Nakanishiya Shuppan, 2020).

With the voting age and age of majority established under civil law having been lowered to eighteen by recent legal reforms, making it possible for eighteen- or nineteen-year-olds to do things like serve as Saiban-in (lay judges), the need for more comprehensive law-related education in schools has been pointed out.*2

“Law-related education” has been the main topic of my research ever since I selected it as my topic of study in my Faculty of Law seminar. In September, 2020, I published Introduction to Fundamental Theory of Law-Related Education concerning Criminal Procedure in the Saiban-in(Lay Judge in Japan)Era (Nakanishiya Shuppan) based on my doctoral thesis (Photograph 1). In it I attempt to provide a theoretical foundation for law-related education based on my interest in “What is law-related education?” Because they give “cultivating (legal) civic capabilities” as the purpose of law-related education, most authors concerned with the study and practice of law-related education examine its particular nature with reference to the model approach of Britain, which has become a leader in citizenship education. Regarding the spread and advancement of law-related education against the backdrop of a legalized society, the discourse has divided “legalization” into two levels, ① the social, comprehensive level of “the legalization of society” and ② the individual, psychological level of “legal socialization,” and the need for legal education that also addresses ② the level of “legal socialization” has been highlighted.

Photo 2{br}Law-Related Education teaching materials for educators produced by the Ministry of Justice / The Law-Related Education Promotion Council. From left, booklets targeting elementary school, middle school, and high school students. {a href='https://www.moj.go.jp/housei/shihouseido/houkyouiku_kyouzai.html' alt=''}https://www.moj.go.jp/housei/shihouseido/houkyouiku_kyouzai.html{/a}{br}(Ministry of Justice “Law-Related Education Teaching Materials” (Released February 13th, 2022))

Law-related education is also an undertaking related to the Sustainable Development Goals “④ Quality education” “⑩ Reduced inequality,” and “⑯ Peace, justice and strong institutions,” and it is hoped that it will begin in schools and spread throughout society. The training of educators to take charge of law-related education in schools is another issue to be addressed. In order to further disseminate and advance law-related education, initiatives to attract the interest of those involved in the field of law, including cethose seeking to become legal professionals, and those employed in related fields such as judicial social services are also essential, and I would like to pursue such undertakings myself. In the future I would like to examine a framework of law-related education that includes not only criminal proceedings but various other legal fields, such as social security law and of course constitutional and civil law, and conduct research that can build bridges between the theory and practice of law-related education.

Outside of law-related education, recently I have also conducted surveys and research*3 regarding people who have experienced a civil trial and users of alternative dispute resolution*4 (ADR). These are also important topics to be addressed when we are thinking about how law-related education is and ought to be.

Satō Nobuhiko
(Advisory fellow at Ritsumeikan University’s Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences)

1.  Hōkyōikukenkyūkai, “Wagakuniniokeru Hōkyōikuno Fukyū・Hattenwo Mezashite –aratanajidaino jiyū katsu kouseina shakaino ninaitewo hagukumutameni,” Hōkyōikukenkyūkai, “Hōkokusho [「我が国における法教育の普及・発展を目指して―新たな時代の自由かつ公正な社会の担い手をはぐくむために」; Aiming for the Spread and Development of Law-Related Education in Japan – To Foster a Leader in a Liberty and Just Society in the New Era] in Hōkyōikukenkyūkai hōkokusho [法教育研究会「報告書」; Law Related Education Study Group“Report”] 2004, p2.
https://www.moj.go.jp/content/000004217.pdf

2. See,https://www.nhk.or.jp/kaisetsu-blog/400/459003.html

3. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) refers to processes for resolving disputes outside the courts.

4. For example, Watanabe Chihara, Nakabe Takayo, Satō Nobuhiko, and Hiranō Tetsurō, “Riyōsha kara mita iryō – ADR iryō funsō sōdan sentā riyōsha intabyū kara egaku jitsujyō to kadai [利用者から見た医療―ADR医療紛争相談センター利用者インタビューから描く実情と課題; The Reality and Problems of Alternative Dispute Resolution for Medical Malpractice Disputes: From an Interview Survey with Users of the Consultation Center for Medical Disputes (Chiba)]” in Ritumeikan hōgaku [立命館法学; Ritsumeikan Law Studies] 2021 Number 396, pp. 1 – 69 (the author was in charge of Part IV).

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