Japan, too, was considered a target of unequal treaties by the allied Western powers because Japan, under the feudal system, did not have various principles of a nation under the rule of law as stipulated in modern Western laws and therefore maintained torture and cruel punishment in criminal cases and regulated free contracts and transactions without giving sufficient protection in civil affairs.
日本も封建制度の体制下で欧米の近代法にある法治国家の諸原則が存在しておらず、刑事面では拷問や残虐な刑罰が存置され、民事面では自由な契約や取引関係を規制して十分な保護を与えていなかったために、欧米列強からはその対象国であると考えられていた。