Family of “Civilized” States and Japan: A Story of Humiliation, Assimilation, Defiance and Confrontation

Abstract

Modern international law is understood to be a law applicable among all the States in equal measure in their relations with each other. It is defined as “the body of rules which are legally binding on states in their intercourse with each other.”1 It contains “principles and rules of conduct which states feel themselves bound to observe, and therefore, do commonly observe in their relations with each other.”2 It is defined by scholars as a law, which makes no distinction between large and small States, east or west, north or south countries. As Oppenheim’s latest edition declares: “International law does not recognize any distinctions in the membership of the international community based on religious, geographical or cultural differences.”3 Despite all the differences in their size and economic strength, political orientation or religious and cultural identity, they are all bound by its rules and are supposed to conduct their international relations on the basis of its tenets. Indeed, sovereign equality of States is supposed to be a fundamental principle of international law. In spite of wide and glaring inequalities amongst States, the equality of States is one of the most familiar and frequently reiterated principles of modern international law. Indeed, equality is traditionally accepted, along with sovereignty and independence, as an “absolute” and “unquestionable” principle upon which international law is based. As Vattel, in his classical exposition, declared: *The author gratefully acknowledges his deep appreciation and indebtedness to the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, especially to its Directors, Professor Doctor Jochen Abr. Frowein and Professor Doctor Rudiger Wolfrum for all their help in providing him with a scholarship and an opportunity to work at the Institute in the summer of 2001, and collect material for this paper which is part of his project on “A Fresh Look at the History of International Law: Asian Perspective.”