Law Commons^™

The Responsibility Of Judges In Interpreting Tax Legislation: Japan’S Experience, Yoshihiro Masui

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This essay examines the Japanese judiciary’s approach to statutory interpretation of tax legislation in Japan. Its goal is to provide a positive, rather than normative, analysis of current Supreme Court of Japan (SCJ) tax jurisprudence. The analysis demonstrates that SCJ justices generally employ a literal approach when interpreting tax legislation, but with due regard to the objective and purpose of specific statutory provisions. This does not mean that SCJ justices constrain their reasoning based on an originalist approach to statutory interpretation. The analysis instead demonstrates that they make their own judgments, taking into account both the plain meaning of the …