Comprehensive Framework for Building the Legal System (1) Legal Codification, Training of Legal Professions and Political Reform

近年来，处于从社会主义体制向市场经济体制转变过程中的亚洲国家正在寻求外国特别是日本的人力资源和知识援助，以建立适应市场化进程的新的法律基础设施。日本政府从1996年开始对越南、老挝、柬埔寨等国开展法律援助项目。然而，在实施这些方案的过程中，出现了一些根本性的问题。其中一些问题是，法律援助的理念是什么，哪些法律领域应该是提供援助的目标。在这一优先领域的研究中，对该领域正在进行的法律援助活动进行学术审查，以期建立一门关于法律援助研究的新学科。研究小组与这些亚洲国家的学术机构组织了联合研究、国际会议和实地研究等，以审查这些亚洲转型国家的法律教育、法律专业人员培训以及法律和司法改革的现状和面临的挑战。研究结果和成果以《作为发展援助的亚洲法律援助》（Aikyo Masanori主编）、《全球化背景下的法律援助》（Saburi Haruo、Obata Kaoru、K. Teilee主编）和《法律援助与法律改革》（杉浦和孝主编）等报告的形式发表。这些报告有助于阐明亚洲转轨国家法律援助的现状、国际和双边援助组织的法律援助、实施国际经济法的国内法律体系建设、以及亚洲转轨国家法律援助与司法改革的关系。我们期待在这些成果的基础上进行进一步的研究。

In recent years, Asian countries that are in the process of shifting from the socialist system to the market economy system are seeking human resources and knowledge-based assistance from foreign countries, particularly Japan, in order to build up a new legal infrastructure responsive to the move to marketization. Japanese government has started its legal assistance programs for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, etc, since 1996. However, in the course of implementing these programs, some fundamental questions emerged. Among them are questions asking what the philosophy of legal assistance is and what areas of law should be the targets for providing assistance. In this priority area research, academic reviews of the ongoing legal assistance activities in the field are conducted with a view to constructing a new discipline on legal assistance studies.The research group organized joint research with academic institutions in these Asian countries, international conferences and field research, etc, in order to examine the current state of and challenges facing legal education, the training of legal professions, and legal and judicial reforms in these Asian transitional countries.Findings and outcomes of the research are published in the form of reports on "Legal Assistance to Asia as Development Assistance" (Aikyo Masanori, ed), "Legal Assistance within the context of Globalization" (Saburi Haruo, Obata Kaoru, K. Teilee eds) and "Legal Assistance and Legal Reforms" (Sugiura Kazutaka, ed). These reports help clarify the current situation of legal assistance to Asian countries in transition, legal assistance by international and bilateral aid organizations, building of domestic legal system in implementing international economic law, and the relationship between legal assistance and judicial reform in Asian transitional countries. We expect that further research will be conducted on the basis of these achievements.