Japan is committed to eliminating child, early and forced marriage by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 5.3. During its voluntary national review at the 2017 High-Level Political Forum, the government noted that child marriage was a challenge in developing countries. Japanese law requires all foreigners who marry in Japan to first prepare an affidavit of jurisdiction to marry at their own country`s embassy or consulate in Japan, confirming that they are legally free to marry. In France, until the French Revolution, the age of marriage was 12 for women and 14 for men. The revolutionary legislation of 1792 raised the age to 13 for women and 15 for men. Under the Napoleonic Code of 1804, the age of marriage was set at 15 for women and 18 for men. [31] In 2006, the age of marriage was raised to 18 for both women and men. In jurisdictions where the age is not equal, the age of marriage for women is more often two or three years lower than that for men. The Shafi`i, Hanbali and Maliki schools of classical Islamic jurisprudence interpret the “age of marriage” in the Qur`an (24:59) as the completion of puberty. For the Shafi`i, Hanbali and Maliki schools of Islamic jurisprudence, the condition for marriage in Sunni Islam is physical maturity (bulugh) and spiritual maturity (precipitated). Büchler and Schlater mention that schools of Islamic jurisprudence (madhaahib) set the following marriageable age for boys and girls:[290] In rabbinic Judaism, men cannot consent to marriage until they have reached the age of 13 years and one day and have gone through puberty, and women cannot consent to marriage until they have reached the age of 12 years and one day and have gone through puberty. Both men and women are considered minors up to the age of twenty. After twenty years, men are not considered adults if they show signs of impotence.
If men show no signs of puberty or impotence, they automatically grow up at 35 and can get married. [277] [278] Catholic canon law adopted Roman law, which set the minimum age of marriage at 12 for women and 14 for men. The Roman Catholic Church raised the minimum age of marriage to 14 for women and 16 for men in 1917, and lowered the age of majority to 18 in 1983. In recent years, many EU countries have tightened their marriage laws, banning marriage before the age of 18 altogether or requiring judicial approval for such marriages. Countries that have reformed their marriage laws in recent years include Sweden (2014), Denmark (2017), Germany (2017), Luxembourg (2014), Spain (2015), the Netherlands (2015), Finland (2019) and Ireland (2019). Many developing countries have also enacted similar laws in recent years: Honduras (2017), Ecuador (2015), Costa Rica (2017), Panama (2015), Trinidad and Tobago (2017), Malawi (2017). The minimum age of marriage was 13 for men and 12 for women, but formal betrothal could take place before that and often was. The Talmud advises men to marry at the age of 18 or between the ages of 16 and 24.
[280] Please note that we attach the translation to the original marriage certificate at the time of the notary. Anyone who has translated the document must also contact the notary. Büchler and Schlater state that “according to classical Islamic law, marriageable age coincides with the onset of puberty. The term puberty refers to signs of physical maturity such as the emission of semen or the onset of menstruation. [290] The 55 parties to the 1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of Marriages have agreed to legislate on a minimum age for marriage to override customary, religious, and tribal laws and traditions. If the age of marriage according to the law of a religious community is lower than that provided for by the law of the country, the law of the State prevails. However, some religious communities do not accept the primacy of state law in this regard, which can lead to child or forced marriage. The 123 parties to the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery agreed to introduce a mandatory minimum “reasonable” age for marriage. In many developing countries, official age requirements are only guidelines. UNICEF, the United Nations Children`s Organization, considers the marriage of a minor (legal child), a person under adulthood, as a child marriage and as a violation of rights. [1] If one or both of the couples are Japanese nationals, the marriage is recorded in a family registry headed by a relevant Japanese citizen. Once all the above documents have been completed, go to the government office of the relevant Japanese city to submit your Kon-in Todoke.
Be sure to confirm local marriage procedures and rules directly with city government officials. (For example, depending on your jurisdiction, you may need to submit a certified copy of your birth certificate and its Japanese translation.) It is legal for Japanese citizens aged 20 and over to drink alcohol in public, and this will continue to be the case after 2022. Theoretically, you must also be at least 20 years old to enter a nightclub. By ending child marriage in its country, Japan becomes a more credible partner in the global fight against child marriage. The Japanese government should build on the new law by taking a more active role in global efforts to end child marriage and supporting reforms in the many countries where far too many girls marry. As a major donor, Human Rights Watch lamented Japan`s lack of programmatic attention to child marriage in Japan`s international development assistance and called on the State Department to prioritize ending child marriage in Japan`s foreign policy. The revision of the Japanese Civil Code does not apply to alcohol and cigarettes.