明治日本建構國民國家的經驗，影響到其領有殖民地，也影響到明治國家轉變為殖民帝國過程中的改變。但是明治憲法中並沒有任何關於日本領地或擁有殖民地之規定。因此，明治憲法的起草人未曾預想領有殖民地的可能性，也沒有考慮擁有殖民地時的法律地位以及應該如何統治管理的問題。 獲得臺灣、朝鮮、樺太及關東州等地後，日本將其部分憲法延伸適用於這些殖民地時，對於母國以及殖民地之國民並未適用統一的法律。而且，不論採行何種法律政策，日本必須先考慮各地社會中的法制狀態，才能決定法律的適用與否。因此明治國家就不得不採行由異法域結合構成的帝國體系。在此帝國結構下，人們以及適用於他們身上的法律規範並不是任意的交錯摻雜，而是刻意建構出不同的權利與義務，其中本國居於最優越的地位。 帝國內的異法域之間有不同的法律系統與適用情況，而且有各自不同的裁判系統。為解決這種異法域之間所衍生的問題，日本在1918 年實施共通法，欲在以往施行不同民事與刑事法律及法規的異法域之間建立統一的適用規則，希望達到全國為同一法域的理想。 作者在本文將嘗試以國民帝國的概念來釐清整個日本帝國的特質，不過在此也要特別強調其具有兩個不同面向，因為它是將國民國家與殖民地帝國融合為一體之意。不過作者同時也指出，正因包含著國民國家與殖民地帝國兩個彼此矛盾的基礎，故無法避免國民帝國本身隱含著自我矛盾的潛在趨勢。 明治國家在法律結構上直到最後都無法擺脫做為異法域結合體的法律結構。對不同法域中被迫加入帝國臣民行列的人而言，他們所負擔的義務遠遠超過了所享受的有限權利。

The experience of Meiji Japan in establishing a nation state influenced its governance of the colonies acquired and also its transformation into a colonial empire. However, the Meiji Constitution did not contain any provisions concerning either Japanese dominion or possession of colonies. The drafters had never envisaged any possibility of Japan becoming a colonizer; and hence, left absolutely no groundwork concerning the legal status of colonies, or their governance. After acquiring Taiwan, Korea, Karafuto (Sakhalin) and Kantoushu, Japan applied its Constitution to these colonies but the people of Japan and its colonies were not governed by the same laws. Due consideration was first given to the conditions of the local legal system before any policy, laws and regulations were to be implemented in the colonies. Thus, the Meiji imperial empire was in reality a union of different legal zones. Neither the people within the empire nor the laws applied to them were unified. Not only the people seldom intermingled, differential rights and obligations were often consciously constructed, with the home country given the most privileged position. When complicated further the situation was that the colonies all had different legal and court systems. Such chaotic status naturally led to conflicts and disputes in the legal arena. To resolve the problem would require the institution of a unified legal system for the entire empire and the enactment of a common law for universal governance. In 1918, in an attempt to realize the ideal of a unified legal zone throughout the Japanese empire, a common law went into effect. In this paper, I will elucidate the characteristics of the whole Japanese empire using the concept of nation-empire, which contains two dimensions, the nation state and the colonial empire. In particular, I will emphasize that the construction of a nation-empire involved gradual integration of these two dimensions. Nevertheless, integration was never easy due obviously to the abovementioned difference and discrimination. Ultimately, the attempt of Meiji Japan in achieving integration and eliminating discrimination within the union of different legal zones turned out to be futile. In particular, for those who were coerced into becoming imperial subjects, their heavy and many obligations far exceeded the narrow and limited rights bestowed upon them.