'The Civil Code Controversy in Meiji Japan' outlines the dramatic history of the failed liberalization of Japanese private law during the Meiji era.

Michał A. Piegzik has a PhD in Japanese private law, lecturing family law and children's rights law at Edinburgh Napier University. He was awarded the Japanese Ministry of Education scholarship for exceptional research results. In 2016–2017 and 2020–2022, he researched Japanese legal history at the Tokyo Metropolitan University. The Pacific War is his life’s passion which also, remarkably influenced his academic skills and career path. The author of six monographs and 20 articles related to law and history, "The Civil Code Controversy in the Meiji Era Japan”, published by Leiden University Press in 2024, is his debut in the Netherlands.

Table of Contents Introduction
Chapter One. The History of the Japanese Legal System
Chapter Two. Japanese Endeavours to Codify Civil Law, 1868–1889
Chapter Three. Schools of Legal Scholarship in Japan – The Main Actors in the Civil Code Controversy
Chapter Four. The First Stage of the Civil Code Controversy: The Dispute until the Publication of the Codes
Chapter Five. The Second Stage of the Civil Code Controversy – The Transitional Period
Chapter Six. The Third Stage of the Civil Code Controversy: escalation and conclusion
Chapter Seven. Summary of the Civil Code Controversy
Chapter Eight. Conclusions
Bibliography