Page:Constitutional imperialism in Japan (IA constitutionalim00clemrich).pdf/39

session found some important measures left on the docket, yet the income-tax law, the naturalization law, and the revised Civil Code were fortunate enough to get through both Houses.

The Okuma-Itagaki “Party Cabinet,” organized with the support of the new Constitutional party, formed by the amalgamation of the opposition parties and factions, was soon broken up by internal dissensions; and the new party itself, because it was not a real union but only an amalgamation, was rent in pieces. But the temporary alliance had served its purpose; so that, when the Yamagata ministry was organized, theoretically as a “Neutral Cabinet,” it found itself compelled to make an informal alliance with the Liberals.

The result was that the thirteenth session of the Diet was harmonious and “unusually fruitful of legislative works,” as one vernacular journal expressed it in its English column. The chief failure of this session was the inability of the two Houses to agree upon a new law of election, by which the right of franchise should be largely extended by diminishing the age limit and amount of property qualification. But many important measures were carried through, such as a reform of the local government system, the amendment of the code of criminal procedure, the increase of the land-tax and a budget calling for 246,451,706 yen of expenditures.

The fourteenth session was a very tame one, but was distinguished by success in passing a new election law. By this law the membership of the House of Representatives was increased to 376; the districts were rearranged to give urban populations a more adequate representation; the plan of unsigned uninominal ballots was adopted; the limits of an electoral district were extended to include a whole prefecture, except in the cases of urban districts; and the property and age qualifications were reduced, so that the electoral franchise was largely extended.^[1] Moreover, the property qualifications of candidates were entirely abolished.

In the fifteenth session, the Ito Cabinet, supported by Ito’s newly organized party (Seiyukai), commanded a majority in