메이지헌법 통치권의 ‘해석’과 재가·의용을 통한 조선총독 입법권의 정당화 구조

This study examines how the legislative authority of the Governor- General of Korea was legitimized not as a matter of administrative expediency or colonial arbitrariness but through the legal theory of the Meiji Constitution. Central to this structure was the interpretation of imperial sovereignty, which defined legislation as an act of the Emperor’s prerogative, while the Diet’s role was confined to procedural “assent.” Within this framework, colonial legislation derived its constitutional legitimacy from the Emperor’s sanction. At the same time, the technique of iyō (application by reference) formally incorporated metropolitan statutes while allowing for the institutionalization of colonial exceptions through separate ordinances. This dual structure— formal conformity and substantive exception—enabled the Governor- General’s ordinances to appear as extensions of imperial law, thereby embedding colonial legislation within the constitutional order rather than positioning it as an extra-constitutional power. By analyzing the interplay of imperial sanction and iyō, this article elucidates the legal and political foundations of colonial governance under the Meiji constitutional regime.