Doctoral Dissertation Research: Dispute Resolution within Specialized Judiciary Systems

对法律的制度进行的学术研究表明，这些制度的效力取决于人们对其公正性的普遍信念，但却难以理解土著权利和主权主张对司法程序的影响。各国为解决法律的冲突制定了各种战略，包括通过保护土著人民的特别国内法，遵守有关土著和社区权利的国际准则，以及设立特别法院机构，以纳入土著司法观念。该研究项目培训一名学生掌握经验性科学数据收集和分析方法，探讨旨在解决国家与土著社区之间争端的特别法庭的规则制定能力。具体而言，该项目通过集中处理跨文化争端，审议这些法庭如何建立一个有效运作和值得信赖的法律的制度。在印第安纳州大学Sara Friedman博士的指导下，J. Christopher厄普顿将探讨特别法庭作为调解不同社会背景的边界组织，在解决法律的争端时采用何种战略。这项研究将在台湾进行，那里的土著问题最近出现在关于多元文化和国家主权的全国对话的最前沿。台湾作为一个民主自治国家，在国际体系中占据着一个不寻常的位置，没有得到大多数其他国家的正式承认。在这方面，土著问题具有独特的突出性，因为明显遵守国际准则为台湾提供了在世界舞台上维护自己的机会。因此，台湾最近设立了一套特别的土著法院。这些特设法庭被纳入国内法院系统，旨在解决涉及土著诉讼当事人的争端，并对他们的文化差异更加敏感。调查人员将使用人种学方法研究这些法院如何制定有关土著习惯做法的规则。调查人员将研究法官，律师和土著诉讼当事人之间的互动，因为他们解决有关土著习惯做法的纠纷，探索司法程序如何为规则制定开辟一个空间，成为一个共同构成的过程，而不是简单地作为法律的权利授予自上而下的方式由国家。研究将侧重于某一法庭，通过参与者对司法程序的观察收集12个月的数据;采访法官、律师和土著诉讼当事人;与当地律师合作处理涉及有争议的土著做法的案件;审查案件裁决。总之，这一研究项目考虑了利用专门司法机构制定关于土著做法的规则的动态过程，以及这些专门法院如何促进土著法律的保护和确保一个运作良好和值得信赖的法律的制度。

Scholarly examinations of legal systems have established that their efficacy depends on widespread conviction in their fairness, but have struggled to understand what influence claims of indigenous rights and sovereignty have on the judicial process. States have developed various strategies for the resolution of legal conflicts, including the passage of special domestic laws protecting indigenous peoples, adherence to international norms pertaining to indigenous and community rights, and the establishment of special court bodies to incorporate indigenous notions of justice. This research project, which trains a student in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, explores the rule-making capacities of special tribunals designed to resolve disputes between the state and indigenous communities. Specifically, by concentrating on cross-cultural disputes, the project considers what these tribunals do to establish an effectively functioning and trusted legal system. J. Christopher Upton, under the supervision of Dr. Sara Friedman of the Indiana University, will explore what strategies are used in special tribunals, as boundary organizations mediating distinct social contexts, to resolve legal disputes. This research will be conducted in Taiwan where indigenous issues have recently emerged at the forefront of a national conversation about multiculturalism and national sovereignty. Taiwan occupies an anomalous place in the international system as a democratic self-ruling state that does not enjoy formal recognition from most other countries. Indigenous issues have unique salience in this context insofar as visible compliance with international norms provides an opportunity for Taiwan to assert itself on the world platform. As a result, Taiwan has recently created a special set of indigenous courts. These ad hoc tribunals are integrated into the domestic court system and are designed to resolve disputes involving indigenous litigants with greater sensitivity to their cultural differences. Using ethnographic methods, the investigators will study how these courts craft rules about indigenous customary practices. The investigators will examine the interactions of judges, lawyers, and indigenous litigants as they resolve disputes about indigenous customary practices, exploring how judicial proceedings open a space for rule-making to be a co-constitutive process, rather than simply as legal rights granted in a top-down fashion by the state. The research will be focused on a particular tribunal, collecting data over 12 months through participant observation in judicial proceedings; interviewing judges, lawyers, and indigenous litigants; working with local lawyers handling cases involving contentious indigenous practices; and reviewing case decisions. In sum, this research project considers the dynamic process of creating rules about indigenous practices using a specialized judiciary and what these specialized courts do to advance indigenous legal protections and secure a functioning and trusted legal system.