Taika Reform
Japan began to dispatch envoys to China's Sui Dynasty in 607. Later, in 630, the first Japanese envoy to the Tang Dynasty was dispatched. The envoys learned of Tang Dynasty's laws, as a mechanism to support China's centralized state. Based on the Tang code, various systems of law, known as the "Ritsuryō" (律令), were enacted in Japan, especially during the Taika Reform. "Ritsu" (律) is the equivalent of today's criminal law, while "ryō" (令) provides for administrative organization, taxation, and corvée (the people's labor obligations), similar to today's administrative law. Other provisions correspond to modern family law and procedural law. Ritsuryō was strongly influenced by Confucian ethics. Unlike Roman law, there was no concept of private law and there was no direct mentioning of contracts and other private law concepts.