Tatsukichi MINOBE, a scholar of constitutional law and administrative law, defined 'colonies in the legal aspect'as 'a part of the national territories where different state laws were adopted' and stated, 'it was positive that Korea, Taiwan, Sakhalin, the Kwantung Leased Territory and the South Sea Islands were considered as colonies based on the above definition' ("Abstract of the Constitution").
憲法学者・行政法学者であった美濃部達吉は、「法律上の意義に於ての殖民地」を「国家の統治区域の一部にして内地と原則として国法を異にし」たものと定義し、「朝鮮、台湾、樺太、関東州及南洋群島が此の意義において植民地なることは疑いを容れず」と述べている（『憲法撮要』）。