village-laws

Updated: May 4, 2025

They were suffered to frame their own village-laws, to estimate the possible amount of their tax-payments, and to make protest through official channels against unmerciful exaction. They were made to pay as much as they could; but they were not reduced to bankruptcy or starvation; and their holdings were mostly secured to them by laws forbidding the sale or alienation of family property.

Lafcadio Hearn - Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation