司法

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 司法 is read as しほう and is a noun for the state function and institutions that interpret and apply law through adjudication.
• Basic usage: It appears alongside 立法 and 行政 as a branch of government and in the institutional principle 司法の独立.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Governmental function
  • Unlike 立法, which makes laws, and 行政, which administers policy, 司法 decides disputes and cases under law.
• Meaning of independence
  • 司法の独立 is an institutional principle protecting adjudication from improper outside control, not personal independence.