Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/134

 ties," and the "magistrates," were guided rather by the special circumstances of each case than by any hard-and-fast rules, and that there grew out of that method a disposition on the part of the people to adjust all affairs by the sentiment of justice rather than by its science. It has also been shown in previous chapters that extreme formalism characterised the pursuit of pastimes and the culture of polite accomplishments in Japan; that folks seemed to delight in elaborating and following mazes of minute regulations and petty precepts. There is an apparent but not a real contradiction between these two habits of mind, for evidently the mental attitude of a man towards matters of human relationship may differ radically from his mood towards tea ceremonials, incense-comparing, or garden-making. It is patent, however, to foreign observers of modern Japan that her judges, her policemen, and her officials in general, cling with almost desperate tenacity to the letter of the law, and avoid any exercise of discretion in administering it. That is certainly not what might have been expected, judging by the record of their pedecessors. Yet it is easy to conceive that the Japanese of the present generation, being called upon to apply systems entirely novel to them, do not venture to make the slightest departure from the exact routine prescribed for their guidance in discharging the unwonted task. Experience shows that the effect of codified laws in every country is to check the exercise of discretion by their ad-