The court ruled on Wednesday that these medical procedures were performed under a eugenics protection law, now obsolete and unconstitutional.

In its ruling on five lawsuits in which the victims sought compensation, the court stated that the 20-year statute of limitations for an illegal act does not apply to cases involving the eugenics law, which was in force between 1948 and 1996.

The ruling paves the way for victims of the law, which allowed the sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities, mental illness or hereditary disorders without their consent to prevent the birth of “inferior” children, to be compensated under the unified decision.

The plaintiffs, who filed the applications in five district courts in the Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe regions, were among a total of 39 people who have claimed damages in similar lawsuits in 11 district courts and one subsidiary court since 2018.

The 15 Supreme Court judges unanimously found the eugenics law unconstitutional, saying that it violated Article 13 of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of individuals not to undergo physically invasive procedures against their will; and Article 14, which provides for the right to equality.

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