Syllabus
Law 334B.001
Introduction to Asian Legal System
(2013-2014)
Tuesday & Thursday 11:00-12:30
Shigenori Matsui
Pitman Potter
John C.H. Kim
Course 3 CREDITS
The Basic Purpose of the Course
This course is designed to provide an opportunity for students to acquire basic knowledge on
Asian legal system. This course will be taught by three professors: Professors Shigenori Matsui
(Japan), Pitman Potter (China), and John C.H. Kim (Korea). We will mainly deal with the history
of legal development, structure of government, legal system in general, judicial system, and
peculiar characteristic of the legal system and its response to economic development in each of
the three countries but the specific details of the subject matters are left for individual instructors.
We will then wrap up the similarities and differences among three countries in the last class.
Students will be able to learn the different legal traditions in Asia and could be able thereby
better to understand the Canadian law.
This is an introductory course and students who wish to learn more on individual country should
take the Japanese Law, Chinese Law, Trade and Investment in China courses or seminars.
Course Materials
 Japanese materials could be available on line or in the library.
 The reading materials for Korea portion will be distributed or available on line.
 Chinese materials will be available on line or in the library.
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated based on examination and final paper.
The examination will ask you to compare four countries with respect to one of the specific topics
covered in the course. All the materials you need are provided in the class or distributed as
teaching materials.
The final paper should be written on any of the topics you choose and should involve the
comparison of at least two or more countries covered in the class. You can write a paper on
any subject, even a subject not covered in the course. We will be happy to provide any input on
your paper. The suggested minimum length of paper is 15 pages, double spaced, using 12 font.
The examination will be for 30% and the final paper will be for 70% of the final grade.
Questions
The coordinator for this course this year is Professor Shigenori Matsui. Professor Matsui and
Professor Potter will be available in his Allard Hall office. Opportunities to meet Professor Kim
will be provided.
T Sept 10
TH Sept 12
T Sept 17
TH Sept 19
T Sept 24
TH Sept 26
T Oct. 1
TH Oct. 3
T Oct 8
TH Oct 10
T Oct 15
TH Oct 17
T Oct 22
TH Oct 24
T Oct 29
TH Oct 31
T Nov 5
TH Nov 7
T Nov 12
TH Nov 14
T Nov 19
TH Nov 21
T Nov 26
Outline of the course
Lunch-time guest speaker (Prof. Jerry McAlinn)
Japan—structure of the government
Japan— pacifism
Japan— guest speaker Naayeli Ramirez
Japan— courts, judges and lawyers
Japan—protection of rights: religious freedom
Japan --- business law
Japan -- criminal law and criminal procedure
China: Overview
China – China’s Legal Tradition guest speaker (Dr. Alison
Bailey)
China – Political System guest speaker (Prof. Yves
Tiberghien)
China – Constitution and Constitutionalism
China –Economic Development
Time Change WED Oct 30 Stability and Social Control
China – Law and Globalization
Korea - Introduction (Guest Speaker - TBA)
Korea - Dead Presidents: A Short History of Modernization
in Korea
Korea - Law, Government and the Political Economy of
Korea
Korea - Korea’s Civil Law System and the Legal Profession
Korea - Korea Inc. and Korea’s Legal Profession in the 21st
Century
Wrap-up: guest speaker Professor Ben Goold
Human Rights in Asia
Wrap-up
Matsui
Potter
Kim
Japan Component: Outline
Rev. September 3, 2013
Shige Matsui
There is no course pack for this segment. All the reading materials are available in the library or through the
Internet.
Following materials might be useful for you to understand the Japanese law:
Hiroshi Oda, Japanese Law (3rd ed. Oxford 2009)
Shigenori Matsui, Constitution of japan: A Contextual Analysis (Hart. 2011)
Day One (Tuesday September 17) Structure of the Government
Reading: Constitution of Japan, available at
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html
Discussion
What are the main characteristics of the structure of the government in Japan?
What kind of role the Emperor is supposed to play?
What is the relationship between the politicians and bureaucrats?
What is the governmental policy-making process in Japan?
Day Two (Thursday September 19) Pacifism
Reading: Karen Piotrowski, Keeping Pace with the Progress of the World: Article 9 of the Japanese
Constitution, 83 Wash. U. L. Q. 1653 (2005)
Discussion
Why was the pacifism clause inserted into the Constitution of Japan?
Was this a realistic choice or just a wishful thinking?
How could the Self-Defense-Force be justified?
To what extent should Japan have a defense capability?
Should Japan amend the constitution to make clear that she can have an armed force?
Day Three (Tuesday September 24) Aboriginal People in Japan
Guest speaker Ph.D candidate Naayeli Ramirez (U.B.C. Law)
Reading: Mark A. Levin, Essential Commodities and racial Justice; Using Constitutional Protection of
Japan’s Indigenous Ainu People to Inform Understandings of the United States and Japan, 33 N.Y.U. Int’l L. &
Pol. 419, 428-45 (2000)
Discussion
What is the current status of aboriginal people in Japan?
Is there any difference in the government policy toward aboriginal people between Japan
and Canada?
What kinds of attitude Asian countries tend to have toward aboriginal people or different
ethnicity?
Day Four (Thursday September 26) Courts, Judges, and Lawyers
Reading: Tom Ginsburg & Glenn Hoetker, The Unreluctant Litigant? An Empirical Analysis of Japan’s
Turn to Litigation, 35 Journal of Legal Studies 31 (2005)
Discussion
What is the court system in Japan?
How are judges appointed and controlled?
Judicial independence?
Are small number of lawyers and small number of civil litigation a reflection of the
social culture of Japan or are they a result of the government manipulation?
Day Five (Tuesday October 1) Protection of Rights: Religious Freedom
Reading: Hiroaki Kobayashi, Religion in the Public Sphere: Challenges and Opportunities in Japan,
2005 Brigham Young U. L. Rev. 683
Discussion
What is Shinto and what does it mean to Japanese people?
What is the demand of the separation of church and state?
What is the Yasukuni Shrine and why the official visit of the prime minister to the Yasukuni
Shrine so controversial?
Day Six (Thursday October 3) Business Law
Reading: Dan W. Puchiniak & Masafumi Nakahigashi, Japan’s Love for Derivative Actions: Irrational
Behavior and Non-Economic Motives as Rational Explanations for Shareholder Litigation, 45 Vanderbuilt J.
of Transnational Law 1, 22-48 (2012)
Discussion
What are the unique characteristics of the corporate governance in Japan?
Why is the derivative litigation so popular in Japan?
If you are interested in the business law in Japan, please take another course LAW338B.001
Japanese Law: Business Law in Japan
Day Seven (Tuesday October 8) Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure
Reading: J Mark Ramseyer & Eric B. Rasmusen, Why Is the Japanese Conviction Rate So High?, 30
Journal of Legal Studies 53 (2001)
Discussion
Why is the conviction rate in Japan so high?
Independence of the prosecutors?
What is the implication of the acquittal of the defendant charged with sexual touching?
China Component: Outline
Rev. September 1, 2013
Pitman Potter
Note on Reading Materials
There is no course pack for this segment of the Law 334 course. All reading materials are either on
reserve at the Law Library or available on-line.
The following materials are available on reserve at the Law Library:
“Special Issue: China’s Legal System: New Developments, New Challenges,” The China
Quarterly No. 191 (September 2007).
Columbia Journal of Asian Law, “Special Issue: Celebrating the Work of Stanley Lubman,”
vol. 19 no. 1 (Spring-Fall, 2005), pp. 1-29.
Pitman B. Potter, The Chinese Legal System (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013), proofs.
Day One (Thursday Oct. 10): Overview
Readings:
“Special Issue: China’s Legal System: New Developments, New Challenges,” The China
Quarterly No. 191 (September 2007).
Pitman B. Potter, The Chinese Legal System (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013), Introduction.
Discussion
- Overview.
- Issues of local context and conceptualization.
- Themes: Historical context, current innovation, norms, operations; legal antecedents
for law in the PRC
Day Two (Tuesday October 15): Guest Lecture “China’s Legal Traditions” (Dr. Alison Bailey, UBC Asian
Studies).
Readings:
Pitman B. Potter, The Chinese Legal System (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013), Chapter One.
Day Three (Thursday October 17): ‘China’s Political System” (Dr. Yves Tiberghien, Director UBC Institute of
Asian Research)
Reading:
China government chart (distributed).
Day Four (Tuesday October 22): Constitution and Constitutionalism
Readings:
Constitution of the PRC (rev. 2005). Available at
http://english.people.com.cn/constitution/constitution.html.
Keith J. Hand, “Resolving Constitutional Disputes in China,” U.Penn East Asia L. Rev. vol. 7
(2011), pp. 51-159. Available at
http://www.pennealr.com/archive/issues/vol7/EALR7(1)_Hand.pdf.
Discussion
- Constitutionalism and Party rule.
Day Five (Thursday October 24): Economic Development: Contract and Property Law
Readings:
“Contract Law of the PRC” (1999). Available at
http://www.chinaiprlaw.com/english/laws/laws2.htm.
Michael Trebilcock and Jing Leng, “The Role of Formal Contract Law and Enforcement in
Economic Development,” Virginia Law Review Vol. 92 no. 7 (Nov. 2006), pp. 1517-1580.
Available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=989932.
“Property Rights Law of the PRC” (2007). Available at
http://www.lehmanlaw.com/resource-centre/laws-and-regulations/general/propertyrights-law-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china.html.
Frank Upham, “Chinese Property Rights and Property Theory,” in Hong Kong Law Journal
vol. 39 no. 3 (2009), pp. 611-626. Available at
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/honko
n39&div=40&id=&page=
Discussion
- Policy compromises
- Roles of state and market
- Economic and civil law discourses
Day Six (** Note Time Change** Wednesday October 30): Stability and Social Control
Readings:
Criminal Law of the PRC (1979, rev. 1997),
http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/207320.htm
Criminal Procedure Law of the PRC (1980, rev. 1996),
http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/207334.htm
Fu Hualing and Richard Cullen, “Weiquan (Rights Protection) lawyering in an
authoritarian state: toward critical lawyering” The China Journal vol. 59 no. 111
(2008) http://papers.ssrn.com/so13/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1083925 (accessed
October 31, 2012).
Discussion:
- Law as instrument of social control.
- Criminal law reform.
Day Seven (Thursday Oct. 31): Law and Globalization // Trade
Readings:
American Chamber of Commerce, 2012 White Paper on American Business in China (2012).
Available at http://www.amchamchina.org/article/9548.
WTO Secretariat, “Trade Policy Review: China” (2012). Available at
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tp364_e.htm.
Discussion:
- Trade as indicator of engagement with globalization.
Day Eight (Tuesday Nov. 5): Law and Globalization // Human Rights
Readings:
State Council Information Office, “China’s Efforts and Achievements in Promoting the
Rule of Law,” (Feb. 29. 2008). Available at
http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/news/Focus/2008-02/29/content_1400815.htm.
US Congressional Executive Committee on China, Annual Report 2011 (2011). Available
at http://www.cecc.gov/pages/annualRpt/annualRpt11/AR2011final.pdf
Discussion:
- Human rights as indicators of engagement with globalization.
Korea Component: Outline
Rev. November 5, 2013
John C.H. Kim (Partner; Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP)
Note on Reading Materials
There is no course pack for this segment of the Law 334 course. All reading materials will either be
distributed in-class or available on-line.
Day One (Tuesday, November 5): Introduction (Guest Lecture: TBA)
Day Two (Thursday, November 7): Dead Presidents: A Short History of Modernization in Korea
Readings:
Michael Breen, The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies
(New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007).
Day Three (Tuesday, November 12): Law, Government and the Political Economy of Modern Korea
Reading:
Bruce Cummings, Korea’s Place In The Sun (New York: W.W. Norton, 2005).
Additional materials to be distributed in-class.
Day Four (Thursday, November 14): Korea’s Civil Law System and the Legal Profession
Readings:
Constitution of the Republic of Korea (Available at
http://www.ccourt.go.kr/home/att_file/download/Constitution_of_the_Republic_of_Kore
a.pdf
Civil Code of the Republic of Korea (Contents available at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Code_of_the_Republic_of_Korea
Additional materials to be distributed in-class.
Day Five (Tuesday, November 19): Korea Inc. and Korea’s Legal Profession in the 21st Century
Readings:
Korea’s Globalization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), Ed. by Samuel S.
Kim.
Additional materials to be distributed in-class.