Oshioki Ruireishu (Judicial Precedents of Criminal Cases made by Edo bakufu [Japanese feudal governm (御仕置例類集)
Oshioki Ruireishu was a compilation of law reports dealing with criminal cases, which was created by the Edo bakufu. It was the documents by classifying and sorting Hyogisho, the reports of the criminal cases which each bugyo (magistrate) had asked the roju (senior councilor of the Tokugawa shogunate) to consult Hyojosho (conference chamber), by the case of crime, and the status, age, and gender of criminal, and so on.
The following five editions were confirmed by the year of the compilation.
Koruishu (Old collection of the cases; 30 volumes)
Cases from 1771 to 1802; completed in 1804
Zokuruishu (Collection of the cases, continued; 31 volumes)
Cases from 1803 to 1814
Shinruishu (New collection of the cases; 37 volumes)
Cases from 1815 to 1826
Tenporuishu (Collections of the cases in Tenpo era [1830 to 1843]; 65 volumes)
Cases from 1827 to 1839
Shinshinruishu (Newer collection of the cases; 79 volumes)
Cases from 1840 to 1853
They were distinguished by the color of the cover. There were limitations on cases or punishment that bugyo or daikan (local governor) could handle on their own authority, and they asked for the roju's judgment for cases that they were unable to handle. The roju consulted Hyojosho about such cases. "Oshioki Ruireishu" was a compilation of the Hyogisho (reports) created by Hyojosho in this regard. It annotated records of cases which were deliberated several times and minority opinions, and since it touched on the legal interpretations of Kujigata Osadamegaki (the law of the Edo bakufu), it was treated, together with the Osadamegaki, as highly confidential information which only the machi-bugyo (town magistrate), kanjo bugyo (the commissioner of finance), jisha bugyo (the magistrate of temples and shrines), Kyoto shoshidai (the Kyoto deputy), and Keeper of Osaka Castle were allowed to store.
It is thought that the only existing book of Shinshinruishu, which was owned by Hyojosho, was burned in the Great Kanto Earthquake. However, the other four editions, which were handed down from Jisha bugyo to the Meiji government at the time of the overthrow of the Edo shogunate, are in the posession of the National Diet Library.