Law-related education (LRE), currently conducted in Japan, is criticized for respecting the status quo or being too normative. Those who raise such criticism propose so-called “Critical LRE,” whose purpose is to cultivate critical thinking about law. They promote lessons in which students propose alternative laws through the relativization of current law, since they think important active law-making by citizen or the view of constitutionalism. However, critical LRE has troubles that it gives priority to presentation of alternative laws over criticism of law, or to abstract ideas over concrete lessons. It is because their conception of critical LRE is based on the vague concept of criticism of law. In this paper, I introduced a new concept of criticism of law into critical LRE through making reference to the interpretive sociology of law which claims the influential legal theory about criticism, after I clarified such troubles on the concept of criticism of law from the aspects of Legalism and Critical Legal Studies. Critical LRE, revived in such a way, emphasizes everydayness and concernedness, and formulates lesson plans based on actualization of micro-criticism by persons concerned and their creative criticism in everyday life, not based on the Criticism through reconstruction of alternative laws and institutions. Consequently, critical LRE resolves its troubles and gains consistent criticism, which set forth the reference point to rethink about LRE.
