近世日本米市場における財産権の保護

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概要

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• This paper tries to clarify the judicial system of the Tokugawa period by focusing particularly on the Osaka rice exchange market. It is well known that the Tokugawa Shogunate exercised jurisdiction over market trades not exclusively, but in a discretionary fashion. For example, while the claims of merchants in Osaka were fully guaranteed by the Shogunate court, the claims of merchants in Edo were sometimes handled in a discretionary manner by the Shogunate court. The important question is how did the Shogunate guarantee the claims of merchants operating in the Osaka rice exchange market, and why? Rice, collected as tax in kind and shipped by the feudal lords, was stored in warehouses ("kura-yashiki") located in Osaka, and sold at auction. Rice brokers who made successful bids received rice bills ("kome-kitte"), each worth 1,500kg of rice. In the 17th century, each rice bill corresponded to a particular amount of rice that the broker obtained at auction. Later, this correspondence broke down and rice bills took on the characteristics of securities. Issuing a rice bill not backed by inventory had not been permitted by the Shogunate since 1761. However, the Shogunate did not entirely suppress this kind of rice bill. While the governor of Osaka ("Osaka-machi-bugyo") implicitly allowed warehouses to issue unbacked rice bills, he forced the warehouses to respect the claims of the rice bill holders. This meant that claims over rice in kind, as represented by the rice bill, were protected by the court of the city of Osaka. This understanding is supported by the analysis of a "run on the warehouse." In 1791, the Chikugo warehouse ("Chikugo-Gura") failed to convert rice bills into rice in kind. In response, rice bill holders filed a lawsuit with the court of the city of Osaka. The governor of Osaka found for the rice bill holders, protecting the claim over rice in kind as represented by rice bills. As shown in this case, dishonoring a rice bill could lead to a systemic risk. For this reason the Shogunate strictly exercised jurisdiction over the Osaka rice exchange market. Supported by the judicial system provided by the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Osaka market functioned both as a rice exchange market and as a financial market through the latter half of the Tokugawa era.

• 2009-10-30

著者

• 高槻 泰郎

  東京大学大学院経済学研究科

• 高槻 泰郎

  神戸大学

関連論文

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• 米切手再考 : 宝暦十一年空米切手停止令の意義
• 大島真理夫編著, 『土地希少化と勤勉革命の比較史-経済史上の近世-』, ミネルヴァ書房, 2009年, xii+380頁
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