Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/714

 694 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

manners, customs, and laws of Japan so as to relegate woman to an abnormally inferior position. As only one striking example out of many possible illustrations of the relative positions of man and woman, we note that, in the case of the death of the husband, the law prescribed mourning garments for thirteen months and abstinence from impurity for fifty days ; but, in the case of the death of the wife, mourning garments for three months and abstinence for twenty days were sufficient.

Mr. Gubbins in the introduction to Part II of his translation of the Civil Code, writes as follows :

The legal position of women in Japan before the commencement of modern legislative reform is well illustrated by the fact that offenses came under different categories according to their commission by the wife against the husband, or by the husband against the wife, and by the curious anomaly that, while the husband stood in the first degree of relationship to his wife, the latter stood to him only in the second. 1 The disabilities under which a woman formerly labored shut her out from the exercise of almost all rights. She could not inherit or own property in her own name, she could not become the head of a family, she could not adopt, and she could not be the guardian of her child. The maxim, mulier est finis familiae, was as true in Japan as in Rome, though its observance may have been less strict, owing to the greater frequency of adoption.

In no respect has modern progress in Japan made greater strides than in the improvement of the position of women. Though she still labors under certain disabilities, a woman can now become the head of a family and exercise authority as such ; she can inherit and own property and manage it herself ; she can exercise parental authority ; if single, or a widow, she can adopt; she is one of the parties 2 to adoption effected by her husband, and her consent in addition to that of her husband is necessary to the adoption of her child by another person ; she can act as guardian or curator ; and she has a voice in family councils.

Moreover, although it is true that for the performance of certain acts (Art. 14) a wife must obtain her husband's permis- sion, and that a wife's acts may be annulled by her husband (Art. 120), yet it is explicitly stated that " a wife who has been permitted to engage in one or more businesses possesses in regard thereto the capacity of an independent person."

1 Since 1882 they have been upon the same basis.

These are composed of a large circle of relatives, and exercise autocratic influ- ence in most important questions.