Faculty of Law

The Department of Law focuses on laws indispensable to social life, and the Department of Modern Business Law focuses on laws indispensable to business life. We aim to nurture specialists equipped with legal minds and legal expertise.

At the time of its founding in 1966, the Faculty of Law consisted of a single department, the Department of Law, in 2001, a reform of the Faculty introduced the new Department of Modern Business Law. With this restructuring into two departments, we are now able to offer broader and more methodical legal training, addressing the issues confronting legal studies within the contemporary social dynamics of globalization, the information revolution, and the aging population producing fewer children—issues such as the environment, business, consumer's rights, gender equality, juvenile crime, and so forth. We also offer even more effective instruction geared to the needs of students preparing for various legal qualification and civil service examinations. More than ever, the Faculty emphasizes smallclass instruction, making seminars compulsory in each of the four years, thus providing ample opportunity for close interaction with professors.

No matter how far our society may progress, law will always provide its common rules. The ability to think legally and see issues ethically is essential.

In the Faculty of Law, we aim to produce specialists equipped with the ability to think legally and see issues ethically. The Department of Law offers a traditional legal curriculum focused on study of the domestic legal system, with the Constitution at its apex and emphasis on the Six Codes defining Japan’s civil and criminal laws and procedures. The Department of Modern Business Law is geared toward responding to globalization of corporate activities and the information revolution in our society, offering a study of law pertaining to international trade and intellectual property. Since laws are constantly being made and revised to keep up with social changes, and the Faculty is committed to a broad-based study of law and legal practice that is responsive to the demands of the times, new courses on real estate law, victimology, legal gender studies, and juvenile law have been established in the Department of Law as well.

Laws present the rules indispensable to civil life. The ability to correctly interpret and apply laws requires dialectical and rhetorical skills that can attest to their social utility. In this department, emphasis is placed on creating a space in which to learn these skills via the Socratic method, and to train for their practical and social application through moot courts and legal debates. The aim is to cultivate legal reasoning and decision-making ability with a view toward training legal specialists. Individuals with a legal education are in demand in a number of professional fields, and our graduates are active in legal circles, government, and business.

Laws are revised constantly in the global society. In this department, we study the law as it relates to the needs of contemporary business. Law concerning each of three fields, Intellectual Property, Domestic Business, and International Business, is taught in a practical manner through small classes by business affairs specialists. Foreign language skills are considered significant, with an emphasis given to practical English. Students are also given the opportunity to hone their IT skills, and to acquire the global perspectives necessary to deal effectively with the complex legal issues arising from international corporate activity. Demand for our graduates is increasing steadily from foreign corporations and NGOs.