The Idea of Non-Discriminating War and Japan

Abstract

Introduction: It is a well-known formulation in most Japanese international law textbooks that two major changes in the theoretical status of took place. The first change was from the just (bellum justum) in the Middle Ages and in Early Modern Times to the so-called idea of non-discriminating war in the latter half of the 18th century or early 19th century. The second change was a shift after WWI from the idea of non-discriminating war to the so-called outlawry of war, or restriction or prohibition of war. This notion was codified in a different way by the Covenant of the League of Nations, the Briand-Kellogg Pact, and the Charter of the United Nations. The above characterization is found, for example, in Soji YAMAMOTO's 1994 book entitled, International Law, which is usually recognized as the standard book on the subject in Japan. Some authors such as Shigejiro TABATA, former professor of Kyoto University, made a clear contrast between the idea of and that of non-discriminating war, and asserted that the just war i.e. discriminating theory, changed to the idea of non-discriminating war, and finally to the discriminating theory in a new version. The concept of the idea of non-discriminating war is in any case now fundamental to discussion about the change of among Japanese scholars.