Policing Modernity: Minor Offences and the Making of Everyday Life in Colonial Taiwan

How did colonial law reshape everyday life in Taiwan?

This book examines how police offenses—a distinct category of minor infractions—and the summary punishment system under Japanese rule penetrated daily routines, enforcing a modern social order through dense policing and immediate sanctions. These offenses did not address serious crimes, but rather regulated ordinary behaviors: how people interacted, moved through space, and conducted themselves in public.

Combining legal and social history, the study traces the creation and implementation of the Taiwan Police Offense Ordinance, showing how it was adapted to local conditions and how people responded—by resisting, complying with, or reinterpreting the rules. Drawing on rich archival sources and vivid case studies, the book reveals the limits of colonial discipline: while external behaviors changed, deeper values often remained untouched.