Hozumi Nobushige

Who was Hozumi Nobushige?

Baron Hozumi Nobushige was a Japanese statesman and legal expert in Meiji period.

Hozumi was born in Uwajima Domain, Iyo Province as the second son to a family of kokugaku scholars. He graduated from the Kaisei Gakko, and studied overseas from 1876-1881. He first traveled to Great Britain, where he attended the University of London and obtained a license as a barrister. He then traveled to Germany, where he attended the Humboldt University of Berlin.

On his return to Japan, he accepted a post as a professor of German law and of comparative law at Tokyo Imperial University. Together with a group of fellow lawyers, he was a founder of the English Law School, the forerunner of Chuo University, in 1885. In 1888, he was awarded the first doctorate of law in Japan. Together with Ume Kenjirō and Tomii Masaaki, he was requested to draft Japan’s Civil Code in 1898. One of his most accomplished students was Kijūrō Shidehara who passed the examination to enter the diplomatic service in 1896, and was Foreign Minister in the 1920s and Prime Minister after World War II.

Hozumi was appointed to the House of Peers in 1890, and the Privy Council in 1916. He was ennobled with the title of danshaku in 1915 under the kazoku peerage system.