August Sovereign, but because they are the Sovereigns of our ancestors. Formerly, as I have said, the people of Japan were divided into three branches or "Three Bodies" (E) and each branch was divided into many clans. Each individual subject had an "uji" or clanname, which was the mark of descent from a certain ancestor. Each clan, whether great or small, had its chief, called "Uji-no-kami" (E) who was usually the eldest male descendant of the eponymous ancestor. He was obeyed and honoured by the clansmen as the representative of their common ancestor. He was the head of their worship, their leader in the time of war, and their governor in the time of peace. Small clansmen were governed by the "uji-no-kami" of the small clan, who was himself subject to the "uji-no-kami" of the great clan. The Emperor was the supreme authority over them and all the laws and proclamations of the Imperial Government were transmitted to the "uji-nokami" of great clans who, in turn, transmitted them to the "uji-no-kami" of the small clans and thus each clan which was a body founded on the community of blooa and worship, formed an administrative division of the country, corresponding to the present administrative divisions such as provinces, cities, towns, districts and villages. Since the great Reform of the Taika Era (A), in spite of the fact that the clan system of

government continued for a long time afterward, the basis of administrative division of the country gradually changed from being personal to being territorial. As Dr Hearn very truly remarks in his " Aryan Household," the order of transition "was from kinship to neighbourhood."

§ 4 THE HOUSE

In the middle ages, clans began to gradually disintegrate and households took their place. It was only after the Restoration of 1868 that the house-system began to lose its force and that the individual, not the household, began to form the unit of state. This transition may be illustrated by the history of our Law of Registration. The development of this law can be divided into three epochs; 1st, the epoch of the Clanregistration (R), 2nd, the epoch of Houseregistration (F) and 3rd, the epoch of the Personal-registration (45XLER). In those early days when the clan formed the unit of state, it was of the utmost importance that each person's clan-name should be kept sacred. As only those who belonged to certain clans could fill high official positions or join the Imperial body-guard, and as several other privileges

were enjoyed by particular clans, attempts were often made to forsake original clans and surreptitiously adopt the names of some influential clans. In order to put a stop to these abuses an "ordeal of hot water" or

Kuga dachi" () was held in obedience to an Imperial proclamation in the 4th year of the Emperor Inkyo (*) (415 A.D.) to test A.D.) to test the truth or falsehood of the clan-names born by the people. This ordeal consisted in plunging the hand into hot water before the temple of a god, and it was claimed that those who had assumed false clan-names would suffer injury, whilst the innocent would escape unhurt. In the 5th year of the Era of Tempei Hōji, (417) (761 A.D.) an office called "Sen Shizoku Jo" (Œ F) was founded for the compilation of a clan-registry, and a commission was appointed which numbered amongst its members the most distinguished scholars of the time. The work of the commission was, however, not completed. Since this time, Imperial proclamations were frequently issued ordering all clans in the Empire to send their genealogical records (FM) to the government, in order that they might be included in the Imperial archives. It was ordered, that in those records the name of the first ancestor and also the name of the ancestor from whom the small clan branched out should always be given and the records

of those claiming to belong to noble clans had to be attested by the signature of the head of the whole clan. In the reign of the Emperor Saga (FL) in the 6th year of the Era of Konin (), "the Register of Clan-names" or "Seishi Roku" () was compiled, a part of which is still in existence to-day. This Register consisted of 30 volumes and contained 1182 clan-names. In that year, "Kan Kei Jo" () or the Bureau of Genealogical Investigation was established. The preservation of genealogical records and their accuracy were considered to be matters of the utmost importance in those times, and their loss or forgery used to supply abundant material to the writers of novels and dramas, just as the subject of the loss or forgery of wills is frequently resorted to by Western writers.

The introduction of "Ko-seki" (F) House-Registry dates back as far as the 1st year of the Era of Taika (645 A.D.), when the great reform was made in the system of government. Although its introduction was earlier in date than the final compilation of the "Register of Clan-names," its historical order must come after that of the Clan-Registry, for the system. of House-Registry has continued from that remote period down to the present time.

It was only in the 31st Year of Meiji (1898 A.D.)

that the history of our law of registration began to enter upon the third stage of the development. The present law, which was promulgated in 1898, and which replaced the previous law of 1871, still retains the name of "Koseki Hō" (F) or "the Law of House Registration," but the character of the law has undergone a change necessitated by the progress of the social condition of the country, for it provides for the registration of individual status or "Mibun-toki" (A) as well as of house registration.

It is often asserted by writers who concern themselves with the early phenomena of society, that a family was the original unit of state and that the aggregation of families formed a clan. But this view seems to me to reverse the real order of development. It was the clan which was first recognised by law and which formed the unit of society. The family was included in the clan but did not yet possess separate existence in the eyes of the law. It was only by the gradual disintegration of the clan, that the family or house came to the fore, and began to form the unit of society. Thus, constituent element of a society becomes smaller and smaller, until it divides itself into an atom or individual.

From what has been stated relative to the development of the law of registration, it will be seen that