최근(2011) 일본 행정판례의 동향 및 분석 연구

Abstract

The precedents show us the phases of the times, as we know. There were many precedents on the residents lawsuit in Japan last year. The fact that a large number of residents lawsuits are filed means the strong democratic control on the local government. We can see higher interest of Japanese citizens in their local autonomy. Autonomous administration monitoring by citizens is tenacious. This paper, however, deals with the case of illegality of monthly pay to the members of administrative commission among lots of cases on the residents lawsuits. It is because that the paper tries to oversee the trend of the judicial precedents without leaning to certain fields of administrative law. In addition to the residents lawsuit case above, cases such as the obligation to adduce reasons in the Administrative Procedures Act, decision of the exemption to disclosure in the Public Information Act, the possibility to revoke administrative notification related to privatization of welfare facility for the elderly carried out by municipality, the possibility for local government to carry out litigations in spite of the opposition of the local council, the responsibility of the passenger who are not driver but only riding in the car being driven under the influence of alcohol, are introduced and analyzed a little. The case on the responsibility of the passenger is very interesting albeit lower court ruling. For lack of space, only 6 precedents could be dealt with in this paper. Although the small number of cases are introduced, we can understand through these several cases that Japanese Supreme Court reach a verdict faithful to the legal principles without swaying by public opinion. It is suggestive in our judiciary. The case on the obligation to give reasons for the unfavorable disposition, in particular, is notable precedent which emphasized anew the importance of administrative procedure.