Public Order and Police Law
The Public Order and Police Law (治安警察法 Chian Keisatsu Hō) was a Japanese law issued by the administration of Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo to target the burgeoning organized labor movement in the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese War. In addition to restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly, and association, it also specifically prohibited workers from organizing and going on strike. An additional provision banned women from joining political associations or taking part in political rallies.
The provision banning women from politics was deleted in 1922, and the provisions forbidding workers to organize and go on strike were deleted in 1926, although identical provisions were immediately added in an amendment to the Peace Preservation Law of 1925.
However, as with the previous Public Safety Preservation Law of 1894, the Public Order and Police Law of 1900 was used to suppress political dissent. In 1920, professor Morito Tatsuo of Tokyo Imperial University was prosecuted for publishing an article critical of the anarchist Peter Kropotkin (in which Morito discussed anarchist ideas). Morito spent three months in jail on charges of treason. His case set a precedent in Japanese law that effectively criminalized the discussion of certain taboo political ideas. The government's clampdown on dissent further intensified after the 1921 assassination of Prime Minister Hara Takashi.
The Public Order and Police Law was eventually supplemented by the Public Security Preservation Law of 1925. It remained in effect until the end of World War II, when it was repealed by the American occupation authorities.
This article "Public Order and Police Law" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Public Order and Police Law. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
