noun
international law (historical)
Obsolete term for international law, used in the late Edo and early Meiji periods. Modern Japanese uses 国際法 (こくさいほう).
See also: 国際法 (こくさいほう)
「万国公法」は、幕末から明治初期にかけて使われた国際法の呼び名である。
"Bankoku kōhō" was a term for international law used from the late Edo period to the early Meiji period.
Modern standard term for international law; 万国公法 is its obsolete predecessor.
A compound of 万国 (bankoku, 'all nations') and 公法 (kōhō, 'public law'), modeled after Western concepts of international law in the 19th century. The exact derivation is uncertain, but it was widely used in early Japanese translations of Western legal texts.