경성제국대학 시기의 공법학자 우카이 노부시게

Ukai Nobushige(鵜飼信成), one of Japan’s leading public law scholars, was one of the co-authors of The Commentary on the Constitution of Japan(註解日本國憲法). This commentary greatly influenced the early interpretation of the Japanese constitution after WWII. Ukai’s constitutional studies and administrative law studies are both important materials for understanding postwar Japanese public law. Ukai served as a professor of law at Gyeongseong Imperial University during the Japanese colonial period and devoted himself to research activities in Joseon from 1931 to 1945, however he also spent time studying in the United States. He was appointed at the age of 25 and spent the earlier period of his life in Joseon and the United States. He then left Joseon at the age of 39, where he was active in writing and established his ideology as a jurist. As a jurist and professor of law, who was active both in Joseon during the Japanese colonial period and in the post-war Japan, he occupies an important place in the study of Korean and Japanese law. Nevertheless, full-scale study of Ukai’s academic activities before 1945 is insufficient. This paper intends to provide a starting point for one by examining the life of Ukai before returning to Japan from Josean, and by analyzing the writings he wrote in both Joseon and the United States.