Evening journal., 1900-01-20
ABOUT JAPANESE COURTS
HOW CRIMINALS ARE TREATED
UNDER THE NEW TREATY.

questions, civil and criminal. affecting
Europeans and Americans, must come
before Japanese judges.
CuPioUsly enough q brutal murder
was committed by an American on the
day on which the revised treaties came
into operation, and the trial OF the
prisoner has afforded good illustra-
ton Of the operation Of the criminal
code. In itself the crime was uninter-
lesting-an affair worthy in It's sordid
features Of the choice quarter In which
1t was committed, the Blood Town"
which Rudyard Kipling has described
Ia his account of Yokohama. The muir
sderer, in fit of jealousy, killed two
Japanese girls and young American
who had supplanted him in the affec-
lions Of one Of the women.
Neither the inquest nor the prelimi-
mary examinations were oublic for
Japanese jusuce is based largely on the
French plan, and proceeds about its
task with mystery and secrecy that
l.nake AnglO-SaxOn uncomfortable. The
prisoner is visited by the public prose-
cutor, who comes alone into his cell
asks innumerable questions and does
his best TO entrap him into making ad-
missions. Indeed. it Is still an open
question whether physical terror is not
occasionally employed to extort confess
sions Of crime. One very ugly case Of
the kind came TO light few months
ago, and il may not be a wholly singu-
lar experience.
Thus is the acte daccusation pre-
pared. 1t is usually a very elaborate
document, setting forth the whole de-
tahs OF the charge in fine and grandil-
Ius
lscribes the scene as if he had witnessed
It, and deals with the CORY passages in
a style that the author of a shilling
shocker might well envy. This work Of
art is launched at the prisoner at the
opening Of his trial. and the president
OF the court takes IL as the basis OF his
examination.
And now as to the court and the
bench. The Yokohama Chipo Saiban-
sho district COURT, is a big modern
building of brick, one of the best of its
Kind in the empire. It is arranged In
European style. In the criminal sec
ton is the counterpart Of the dock, the
lharristers' table and the judges bench
all as they might be in an English
court. But, at the same time. there is
the usual Japanese air Of forlorn unit
dine5s about everything. Incomparably
neat and tasteful in their native archi-
lecture and dress and their native
gardens, the japanese are hopeless
when they do things a lEuropeenne
In this fine, large building, for exam.
pie, floors are filthy, walls are scrib.
bled over with foolish and dirty non
sense, gendarmes and police smoke
cigarettes In the corridors and throw
fag ends everywhere, and one even sees
the barTisters' table garnished with q
row Of teapotsl
The court consists Of three judges
and the prosecutor and the clerk Of the
court occupy seats beside them. Their
lordships are all comparatively younf
men, and apparently as able and intel
ligent as can be expected of officials
who fulfill grave judicial functions al
salaries of from ESQ to 600 a year
They wear gowns much like those o.
English barristers, but instead Of ths
horsehair wig the head is crowned witt
a black cowl, something like that OF G
Catholic priest
Almost the whole of the examination
is in the hands OF thep resident. Tn,
bar has a very subordinate part Bar
lristers limit themselves to suggesting
Questions and making applications,
they do not themselves ex
+, anime witnesses-all questions
p. are put through the presid
! ing judge. The propriety Of any quer,
= the latter may think At to put is appar
emily never questioned, the japanese
barrister appearing to be very muel
less pugnacious and much more over,
awed by the court than his British con
frere. Less time is probably wastet
than in an English court.
Lastly the judgment itself is curl
osity. II this case be any criterion tn,
president Of the court Is at least a.
anxious as the prOcurator 10 exhibit hi.
literary powers. The sentence on this
American citizen-he was condemned
70 be hanged-Occupied reams of Jap
anese characters, and its translation
would run into six columns Of tn,
Times. The advice Of the English judge
who said to a younger colleague, Civ,
your conclusions, my dear fellow. buf
never your reasons is totally disre
garded by the Japanese official. who's,
Judgment is practically one long ar
gument, with the purpose of provinl
the correctness OF his decision. Tn,
accused in this case was a sailor, ant
the weapon he used is described as be-
ing welded by an arm that for thirty
years had wrestled with the angry
wave. The scene Of the murder wa.
hit OFF ia this word picture Bone.
! splintered, pieces of flesh flying about
l brains scattered aroundred blood we'll
I ing forth, long hairs drifting on The
CORY stream" The prisoner had suf
fered a disappointment Of some selfish
expectations, and he is described as
being plunged from the airy heights
of hope into the dismal depths of grin
Z despair What penrt-a-liner coulC
compare with this judicial paragraph
= ist?
= One peculiar feature of this judg
ment has not received the attention Il
deserves. The judge remarked that o.
the three murders the most serious wa:
y that Of the young American; that there
were extenuating circumstances In the
. case of the two Japanese girls, ane
that if they only had been in question
Justice would have been satisfied Will
a sentence Of penal servftude- This L
peculiarly Japanese. No English judge