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Information concerning the 2007 seminar
“The Present State and the Future of Research into East Asian law”


This seminar is held by the Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law, the Renmin University of China Law School, and the Busan National University College of Law, as the main project in the first year of the Asian research and education base program (2007-2011), entitled " Reception and Creation of Law in East Asia - Towards the Formulation of the Basis for a Common Law in East Asia -."

・Schedule: From Saturday, November 17 to Sunday, November 18
・Location: Hitotsubashi University / East Campus Building No. 1
(For access to Hitotsubashi University and the Hitotsubashi University campus map, click here
・Main theme: “The Present State and the Future of Research into East Asian Law”
Theme of the first day (17th): “The Present State of Research into the Reception and the Creation of Law”
Theme of the second day (18th): “Comparative Research into Traditional Legal Culture - Towards The Formulation of a Common Law”
・Sponsorship: Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law, Renmin University of China Law School, Busan National University College of Law
・Cosponsorship: Hitotsubashi University 21st century COE program “Innovative Research Bases in Europe,” Asian Law Association (the first day)

At the end of the first day, a fellowship banquet will be held inside the Hitotsubashi University campus.

1.Summary

This program (2007- 2011), working towards the “Formulation of a Common Law in East Asia,” takes on the research theme of “The Reception and Creation of Law in East Asia.” In 2007 (the first year), in order to clarify the conclusions reached by studies related to this issue, we identified problematic aspects, and attempted to make proposals for the direction of future research.
The seminar was held over a period of two days. The theme of the first day, “The Present State of Research into the Reception and Creation of Law,” is related to the main subject of our program, titled “Reception and Creation of Law in East Asia”. The theme of the second day, “Comparative Research into Traditional Legal Culture - Towards the Formulation of a Common Law,” relates to the secondary subject of “The Formulation of the Basis for a Common Law in East Asia.”

(1)Theme of the first day: “The Present State of Research into the Reception and the Creation of Law”

here “reception of law” refers to the reception of the West European type of modern law, which includes legal theory as well as the reception of legal codes and laws. If we take Japan as an example, the object of our study (the issue) is the entire process of the reception of various codes starting with the Civil Code around the end of the 19th Century, together with the continuous and uninterrupted reception of individual legislation and theories since then until the present day. “Creation of law” refers to the entire body of legislation, judicial precedent, and jurisprudence and legal theory developed by scholars and practitioners, which developed from the starting point of the “reception of law” with all of the meanings described above. 
On the first day, the history and present state of research into the phenomenon of “reception and creation of law” are critically examined and generalized, and new directions for research into “reception and creation of law” are considered.

(2) Theme of the second day: “Comparative Research into Traditional Legal Culture - Towards the Formulation of a Common Law”

The theme of the second day was established based on the recognition of the necessity for comparative studies which can academically acknowledge the traditional legal culture of each country in East Asia (at present, referring to three countries, namely Japan, China, and Korea) as the main premise, in order to explore the task of our research for this program, “The Formulation of the Basis for a Common Law in East Asia.” The traditional legal culture here refers not to legal culture as a remainder from the past, but rather to the traditional legal culture of a non-European type in each country, which still exists today, and has influenced the developments that accompanied the reception of the West European type of modern law in each country in various forms. 
Taking a comparative approach, (1) a comparison of law in East Asia and European law, and (2) a comparison within the region of East Asia, would be keeping with the subject. However the perspectives of 1. commonality, and 2. heterogeneity, will become the two focal points for the task. The reason why commonality becomes an issue is that above all, the existence of some kind of commonality becomes the premise for the formulation of the basis for a common law in East Asia; besides commonality, however, we also must pay more attention to heterogeneity. The reason is because it is assumed that by looking directly at heterogeneity, which is a constraint on the commonization of law,  the formulation of a common law becomes comparatively simple, and possible and difficult fields can be clarified scientifically. 
On the second day, with awareness of the above problems, the conclusions reached and the problem areas concerning “comparative research into traditional legal culture” are clarified, and the issue of ideal methods of future research is considered.

2. Program

(1)The first day: “The Present State of Research into the Reception and the Creation of Law” (November 17) 13:30 to 17:30
Location: Hitotsubashi University East Campus Building No. 1 
Chairman: Hitoshi Aoki 
Presenters and themes of research 
Fumie Uno, Makiko Hayashi “The Present State and Issues for Research into Law Reception and Law Creation in Japan” 
Yujun Feng “Conclusions of the Research into the Reception of European and American Law in China” 
Joo Jihong “Reception and Creation of the Korean Civil Law”
(2)The second day: “Comparative Research into Traditional Legal Culture - Towards the Formulation of a Common Law” (November 18) 9:30 to 17:30
Location: Hitotsubashi University East Campus Building No. 1 
Chairman: Susumu Yamanouchi, Hitoshi Aoki 
Presenters and themes of research 
Takeshi Mizubayashi “The Present State and Problem Areas of Research Concerning Traditional Legal Culture in Asia - the Case of Japan -”
Hui Yao “Chinese Traditional Legal Culture and the Influence of the European and American (Japanese) Civil Law” 
Moon Jun-young “The Present State of Research into Traditional Legal Culture in Korea” 
Jiro Yashiki “The European Common Law (Jus Commune) Experience and East Asia”

3. Profiles of the Presenters, Commentators, Chairman

(1) Presenters
[China]
Hui Yao (Professor of Civil Law, Renmin University of China Law School)
Director of the Chinese Civil Law Society.  Research member of Tokyo University Graduate School of Law research course (1998 - 2000). 
Main publications are “Personality Rights Law” (1998), “The Civil Law Spirit” (1999), “The Essence of Judicial Interpretation of Civil and Commercial Law” (2004)

Yujun Feng (Associate Professor of Jurisprudence, Renmin University of China Law School)
Director of the Chinese Jurisprudence Society. Successively held positions as an honorary member of research units at Harvard University and Columbia University.
”Law and Narrative in Chinese History” (2007), “A Study of Legal Economics” (2007)

[Korea]
Joo Jihong (Associate Professor of Civil Law, Busan National University College of Law)

Guest Professor at California University Berkeley Law School (1998 - 1999, Fulbright scholarship).  “A Comparative Study of Contract Modification” (2007), “The Progressive Emergence of European Civil Law” (2004)


Moon Jun-young (Associate Professor of History of Law and Civil Law, Busan National University College of Law)
Director of Research of the Korean Legal History Society, Foreign associate researcher at the Kyoto University Research Institute for the Humanities (2000 - 2001). “The Legislation Process for Court Organization Acts during the U.S. Military Administration Period” (2005), “A Study of the Historical Formation of the Prosecution System in Korea” (2004), “The Formation and Diffusion of the Colonial Form of Judicial System in Imperial Japan” (Toshihiko Matsuda and Toyomi Asano, eds., “The Legal Structure of Colonial Imperial Japan,” Published by Shinzansha, 2004)
[Japan]
Fumie Uno (Part-time researcher, at the Hitotsubashi University International Research Education Center for Japanese Law, History of Japanese modern law)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science research fellow (2004 - 2006). “ “Iye” and Right of Househead in the Tokyo District Court Decision on “Deposition of Househead,” (Reiji Hayashiya et al. eds., “Law and Courts in the Pre-Meiji Era” Published by Shinzansha, 2003), “Iye” and the Right of Househead in the Deposition of Househead System," (“Legal History Review” Vol. 52, 2002). Doctoral dissertation “The Development of the “Household” Principle in Modern Family Law in Our Country” (Unpublished, 2004)

Makiko Hayashi (Associate Professor, Kinki University Faculty of Law, History of Japanese modern law)
Visiting researcher, London University SOAS (2005 - 2006). “Civil Trials in the Meiji Era Examined from the Statistics” (co-editor, published by Shinzansha, 2005), “the Civil Proceedings Act - a Focus on Historical Studies on Civil Action” (Hisao Ishikawa et al, eds., “The Present State and Issues for Research into  Japanese Modern Legal History” published by Koubundou, 2003), “On the Process of Change from Kankai Conciliation to Tokusoku Mahnverfahren in the Meiji Era” (“Legal History Review” Vol. 48, 1999)

Takeshi Mizubayashi (Professor, Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law Research Course, History of Japanese Law)
Representative Director of the Japan Legal History Association, a member of the Science Council of Japan partner association. “The Reorganization of Feudalism and the Establishment of a Japanese Society (Yamakawa Publishing Company, 1987), “A Historical Essay on the Emperor System of Japan” (Published by Iwanami Shoten, 2006), “<Feudalism> and <Gun-Ken System> as Historical Concepts” (Xiang Zhang et al, eds., “A Reconsideration of the Feudal Gun-Ken System,” published by Shinbunkaku, 2006), “Historical Theories of “Social Systems and Law” - A Historical Perspective on “the Modern Experience” and the Systemic Transformation of the Law,” (“Societal System and Law” Vol. 6, 2005)

Jiro Yashiki (Associate Professor, Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law Research Course, History of Western Law)

Director of the Society for the Study of  Legal Culture / Representative of the Secretariat (from 2004).  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science research fellow (1994 - 1997), honorary research fellow of the University of Köln Research Institute for the History of Modern Private Law (1995), honorary research fellow of the Humboldt University Faculty of Law as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation scholarship student (2006 - 2007). “Discipline and Enlightenment – the Enlightened Absolutism of Frederick the Great (1999),Translation Supervisor - Peter Stein “Roman Law and Europe” (2003), “General Observations on the History of Western Law,” Chapters 1, 2, 16, 18, and 19 (Katsuta, Mori, and Yamauchi, eds., 2004) Emilie Kempin Spyri (1853 - 1901) (1)(2) Hitotsubashi Journal of Law and Politics Vol. 33 - 34 (2005 - 2006)


(2) Commentators
Tatsuo Inoue (Professor, Tokyo University Graduate School of Law, Political Science Research Course, Philosophy of Law) 
Hiromichi Imai (Professor, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Law Research Course, Philosophy of Law) 
Juro Iwatani (Keio University Faculty of Law, History of Japanese Modern Law) 
Noriko Kokubu (Professor, Tsukuba University Graduate School of the Arts and Social Sciences research course, History of the Korean Constitution / History of Legal Thought) 
Ken Suzuki (Professor, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Law Research Course, Chinese Law / Taiwanese Law) 
Osamu Takamizawa (Professor, Tokyo University Institute of Oriental Culture, Chinese Law) 
Nobuyuki Yasuda (Professor, Kansai University Faculty of Policy Studies, Asian Law / Law and Development) 
Each person was asked to provide a comment.

(3) Chairpersons
Hitoshi Aoki (Professor of Comparative Law, Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law Research Course) 
Susumu Yamanouchi (Professor Hitotsubashi University Vice Chancellor / Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Law research course, History of West European Law)