Confucian Influence on the Criminal Laws of Korea and Japan

Woo-Jung Jon, University of Oxford

Abstract

In Korean Criminal Law there are thirteen provisions influenced by Confucian filial piety, imposing heavier punishment on crimes committed against lineal ascendants. The Japanese Criminal Law also had such provisions, but abolished them. This article examines the present and the past of the Confucian influence on the Criminal Laws of Korea and Japan. Chapter II investigates the historical background of the development of Confucianism in Korea and Japan, and the conflicts between traditional Confucianism and newly transplanted Western legal systems. Chapter III analyzes the provisions of the Criminal Laws of Japan and Korea related with aggravated punishment on the crime against lineal ascendants. Chapter IV examines the Courts’ decisions on the constitutionality of these provisions in Japan and Korea. Chapter V reviews scholars’ opinions about the aggravating provisions for crimes committed against lineal ascendants.