Ie

The ie (家), or "household," was the basic unit of Japanese law until the end of World War II: most civil and criminal matters were considered to involve families rather than individuals. The system was formally abolished by the Allied occupation authorities in the late 1940's, and Japanese society began a transition to a more Americanized nuclear family system: however, the Confucian principles underlying the ie concept are still informally followed by many Japanese people today.

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