History of the medico-legal system in Japan

Abstract

The history of the medico-legal system in Japan is described. Modern legal medicine was not introduced into Japan until the tenth year of the Meiji Era (1877). In criminal cases, inspection of a dead body was generally performed without autopsy and microscopic examination. With the influence of western culture, modern medicine in Japan including legal medicine was founded. After 1877, the first series of lectures on legal medicine was given by Dr. W. Doenifz, who engaged in dissection, examination and poison testing as well as education. In 1877, Tokyo University Medical Department was established, and The Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Codes came into force in 1882, and dissection to ascertain the cause of death was permitted. Dr. K. Katayama established the Department of Legal Medicine at Tokyo University Medical School, by which he is always remembered as a pioneer of modern legal medicine of Japan. After the Second World war, a new educational system was started in 1951, and between 1970 and 1974, the medical departments and medical colleges were established according to the policy of one medical college in each prefecture, so that the total of 80 medical colleges that exist today came into being. The Medico-legal Society of Japan was established in 1914 and the 80th General Meeting is held in Kyoto in 1996. With approximate 1300 members, the bulletin of the Society, the Japanese Journal of Legal Medicine, attained 49 volumes in 1995. In 1947, a Medical Examiner's Service was provided in the seven largest cities and the Public Prosecutor's Office established the National Research Institute of Police Science in 1948. The present system of forensic medicine in Japan needs to evolve extensively into ‘forensic sciences’, including both natural and social science, along with an international flow of medical knowledge.