Legal Suits and Illegal Suits in Early Modern Japan

近代早期日本德川时期（1615-1867年），被归类为“诉讼”的法律程序有三种。第一种是民事诉讼，第二种是刑事诉讼，第三种是向当局请愿。因此，在德川时代，请愿也被称为“诉讼”。今天，我们可以找到许多关于日本德川地区民事和刑事诉讼的学术书籍和论文。但是，我想说的是，我们很难在日本历史领域找到有关向德川幕府当局请愿的法律程序的研究。因此，本研究考察了德川幕府时期的上访程序，并明确了这种“诉讼”与当时被称为诉讼的其他类型的法律程序之间的异同。它还描述了德川幕府处理这些诉讼和请愿的系统，并指出了这些系统的局限性。通过这一研究，我们可以了解近代早期日本人民的诉讼和上访有保障的说法和没有保障的说法。

There were three types of legal procedures that were classified as "suits" in the Tokugawa Period of early modern Japan (1615-1867). The first was civil lawsuits, the second, criminal lawsuits and the third type was something like petitions to the authorities. Thus, petitions were also called "suits" in Tokugawa Japan. Today, we find many academic books and papers on civil and criminal suits in Tokugawa Japan. I would say, however, we can hardly find any research in the field of Japanese history on the legal procedures related to petitions to the authorities of the Tokugawa Shogunate.This study therefore examines the procedure of petitioning the authorities in the time of Tokugawa Shogunate and makes clear the differences and similarities between this type of "suits" and the other type of legal procedures referred to as suits at that time. It also describes the systhems Tokugawa Shogunate had for handling these suits and petitions and point out limits of these systhems. From this research, we can understand the says in which suits and petitions were guaranteed and those in which they were not guaranteed for the people of early modern Japan.