2017 Volume 2017 Issue 188 Pages 188_15-188_29
This article examines the Japanese government’s attitude toward the issue of “nationality of married women” in the Hague Conference for the Codification of International Law in 1930, the first diplomatic conference hosted by the League of Nations for the purpose of codification of international law. Through investigating the decision-making process on the Conference within the government, it aims at revealing the Japan’s constructive engagement in the codification project conducted by the League of Nations, which set in motion the advancement of international law during the inter-war period.
It is well known that the Hague Conference marked a watershed in the history of international law. Though the achievements in the Conference were meager, it surely paved the way of setting up the current codification system in the United Nations, particularly the establishment of the International Law Commission. Seldom discussed and little known is how Japan responded to this major development in the field of international law. While some preceding literatures have elucidated the passive, or sometimes hostile, stance of Japan toward enhancement of laws of war, they have yet to show a complete picture of the Japanese view on international law at that time since they do not sufficiently address the issues of laws of peace with which the Hague Conference was mainly concerned.
Probably, no issues discussed in The Hague attracted attention and received publicity more than nationality of married women. One of the reasons was that it touched the heart of the tension between the concept of family unity and gender equality. At the time of 1930, while most countries still adhered to the old principle that wife follows the nationality of husband in case of international marriage, some national legislations had discarded it and allowed an alien woman who married their national to retain her original nationality if she wished so. It was against this background that the Hague Conference attempted to reconcile the difference between legislations in nationality of married women by means of multilateral convention.
While Japan still maintained the old principle in its nationality law based on the traditional family values, it took a somewhat flexible stance in The Hague. Interestingly enough, Tokyo instructed its delegation to the Conference that if a consensus emerged among states, they could go along with the proposed article, which granted a married woman the right to choose not to acquire husband’s nationality. These findings suggest that at that time Japan sought to project its image as an important contributor to the development of international law through its active participation to the codification project by the League.
