Japanese Law in an International Context : Law in its Origin and Law in its Global Context

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project was conceived in connection to several ongoing projects by the Institute of Comparative Law of Waseda University since 2001, namely, "The New Stage of Comparative Law Study (2001-2002)", "Japanese Law in International Context (2003-2004)" and "Japanese Law in History and Comparison (2005-2006)." We investigated the formation process of Japanese law in its relations to foreign law, and consequently, we redefined the identity of Japanese law and evaluated its transplantation and resettlement outside of Japan.Our research achievements shall be summarized as follows:First, in the field of criminal law, we concluded that the "Iye" system-the patriarchal system of Japan-has hindered the establishment of "abandonment/Risikodelikt". In discussing the so-called "minute justice," which is a main feature of Japanese criminal procedure, we reevaluated the significance of the "Principle of substantive truth/Prinzip der materiellen Wahrheit."Secondly, in the field of Antitrust Law, we e … More xamined the regulations on the unfair competition clause, and critically analyzed the relation between the original Japanese Antitrust law and its American counterpart. Regarding the influence of American law on Japanese Legal Systems, we focused on bankruptcy law and corporate law, and discussed the background and the recent problems of radical Americanization of Japanese laws.In contrast to the globalization of laws discussed above, we turned our eyes to some confined areas, that is, the EU and Asia. We thoroughly examined EU enlargement and the subsequent transplantations of laws in newly admitted EU countries. Furthermore, we tackled the process of re-identification and re-definition of Central and Eastern European laws after the fall of the communist regimes, taking the example of Hungary. In Asia, we discussed how the constitutional review in Asian countries has developed. On the subject of the legal assistances from Japan, we scrutinized the revision of Vietnamese Civil Code, and examined the ongoing Japanese assistances in Taiwan, Manchuria, and in Northern China.These scholarly achievements will be soon published as Japanese Law in International Context : Law in its Origin and Law in its Global Context (Tokyo : Seibundo, 2006). Less