Translation of Japanese Statutes

Abstract

Translation of Japanese Statutes into English by the government of Japan started in 2003 from scratch. At the Ministry of Justice, Japanese Law Translation Council (“JLT Council”) was formed. JLT Council continuously improves translation of Japanese statutes and the Standard Translation Dictionary created for use by translators in the translation of statutes. Translation of Japanese statutes that belongs to the civil law tradition into English for the common law system involves many unique difficulties originated from the difference of the two legal systems, from the difference of the way of thinking of law professors of two legal systems and from the difference of the structure of Japanese language and English. Translation of Japanese statutes and their improvement is never ending work.