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Full-Text Articles in Law
Legal Compliance And Korea's Financial Services Market: A Strategic Approach, Young-Cheol Jeong
Legal Compliance And Korea's Financial Services Market: A Strategic Approach, Young-Cheol Jeong
Washington International Law Journal
The purpose of this paper is to improve the compliance level in the Korean financial services market by proposing a more systematic approach to economic crimes. As one of the most important capital markets in Asia, the Korean financial services market has weathered well both the hardship of the Asian financial crisis and the challenges of the Great Recession. Thus, its policy directions and experience are valuable to other burgeoning capital markets around the world. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the compliance system in the Korean financial services market. Based on a literature review, this paper analyzes …
Labor Relations And Labor Law In Japan, Atsushi Tsuneki, Manabu Matsunaka
Labor Relations And Labor Law In Japan, Atsushi Tsuneki, Manabu Matsunaka
Washington International Law Journal
This article builds on a rationalistic understanding of Japanese employment customs to argue that, up until the 1990s, Japanese labor law facilitated private bargaining instead of engineering a desired outcome directly through legal regulations. Through this indirect approach toward labor relations, at least part of Japanese labor law made a highly positive contribution to the attainment of economic efficiency. After the 1990s, the merits of Japanese employment customs diminished and needed reform. While such reforms were made in some aspects, Japanese labor law has taken the stance of directly regulating the economy, particularly in the area of employment protection and …
Divorce And The Best Interest Of The Child: Disputes Over Visitation And The Japanese Family Courts, Takao Tanase, Matthew J. Mccauley
Divorce And The Best Interest Of The Child: Disputes Over Visitation And The Japanese Family Courts, Takao Tanase, Matthew J. Mccauley
Washington International Law Journal
The following is a translation of an article written by Professor Takao Tanase for the December 2009 edition of Jiyū to Seigi, a Japanese legal periodical. Divorce and familial breakdown has become a major problem in modern Japanese society, yet the law does not provide any meaningful protection for the noncustodial parent. Professor Tanase analyzes this issue from a comparative and theoretical perspective, looking at the current Japanese visitation laws in place today, while contrasting those with the system in the United States. He also looks at how those laws affect actual families, and how the courts have implemented …
To Plea Or Not To Plea: The Benefits Of Establishing An Institutionalized Plea Bargaining System In Japan, Priyanka Prakash
To Plea Or Not To Plea: The Benefits Of Establishing An Institutionalized Plea Bargaining System In Japan, Priyanka Prakash
Washington International Law Journal
Plea bargaining, the practice that permits the prosecution and defense to negotiate reduced charges or a lighter sentence in exchange for the defendant’s guilty plea, is a bedrock component of the criminal justice system in many nations. The Japanese legal community, however, has resisted introducing plea bargaining into Japan’s legal system. From 2001 to 2004, the Japanese legislature passed over twenty reform laws to prepare the country’s criminal justice system for the demands of the twenty-first century, but provisions for plea bargaining were conspicuously absent from the reform package. This is largely because the Japanese legal community views plea bargaining …
Death Penalty Sentencing In Japan Under The Lay Assessor System: Avoiding The Avoidable Through Unanimity, Elizabeth M. Sher
Death Penalty Sentencing In Japan Under The Lay Assessor System: Avoiding The Avoidable Through Unanimity, Elizabeth M. Sher
Washington International Law Journal
The Lay Assessor Act of 2004 mandated the creation of a mixed lay judge system, called the saibanin seido. Under this new system, jurors, or lay judges, sit with professional judges to decide the fate of criminal defendants. The Lay Assessor Act requires lay judges to decide both the verdict and sentencing of defendants in the same sitting. The verdict and sentence require support from a majority of the jurors and must include one professional judge on the panel. For certain crimes in Japan, the death penalty is one possible sentence. Under the saibanin seido system, for the first …
Divorce And The Welfare Of The Child In Japan, Matthew J. Mccauley
Divorce And The Welfare Of The Child In Japan, Matthew J. Mccauley
Washington International Law Journal
Current Japanese legal institutions are ill-equipped to resolve the complicated issues surrounding visitation, custody, and divorce. Japanese views toward family and society have changed greatly since the post-World War II family law was enacted in the 1950s, but the law has not evolved accordingly. This is especially clear in the methods used to determine custody and visitation, as well as the kyōgi rikon, or divorce by mutual consent system. Policy makers and activists are both working to resolve this problem, but their ongoing struggle has yet to produce any tangible results. This comment argues that the Japanese legal system …
The Problem Of Enforcing Nature's Rights Under Ecuador's Constitution: Why The 2008 Environmental Amendments Have No Bite, Mary Elizabeth Whittenmore
The Problem Of Enforcing Nature's Rights Under Ecuador's Constitution: Why The 2008 Environmental Amendments Have No Bite, Mary Elizabeth Whittenmore
Washington International Law Journal
In 2008, Ecuador became the first nation to give rights to nature when it ratified constitutional amendments (new articles 71-74) that grant the environment the inalienable right to exist, persist, and be respected. Environmentalists hope Ecuador’s amendments will lead to improvement in a country devastated by resource exploitation, and that other countries will follow. Yet, many wonder whether the amendments will be enforced. This comment argues that—all things considered—successful execution of the amendments is unlikely. Ecuador’s President has not demonstrated a sincere intention or ability to implement the amendments. Further, plaintiffs who sue under the amendments face significant legal barriers, …
The Singapore Chill: Political Defamation And The Normalization Of A Statist Rule Of Law, Cameron Sim
The Singapore Chill: Political Defamation And The Normalization Of A Statist Rule Of Law, Cameron Sim
Washington International Law Journal
Recent cases involving opposition politicians and foreign publications, in which allegations of corruption leveled against both the executive and the judiciary were found to be defamatory and in contempt of court, struck at the heart of Singapore’s ideological platform as a corruption-free meritocracy with an independent judiciary. This article examines the implications of these cases for the relationship between the courts, the government, and the rule of law in Singapore. It is argued that judicial normalization of the government’s politics of communitarian legalism has created a statist and procedural rule of law that encourages defamation laws to chill political opposition. …
Initial Research On The Malfunctions Of The Criminal Process, Chen Ruihua, Timothy Webster
Initial Research On The Malfunctions Of The Criminal Process, Chen Ruihua, Timothy Webster
Washington International Law Journal
In recent years, as China’s legislature has placed the amendment of the Criminal Procedure Law on its legislative plan, more and more legal scholars are paying attention to the problem. Legal academics have produced a series of theses and books, and qualified scholars have even organized experts’ drafts of the Criminal Procedure Law, offering comprehensive and systematic theoretical works on how to revise the law. I participated in scholarly activities organized by the Criminal Affairs Committee of the All China Lawyers Federation, and drafted the first lawyers’ edition of the revised Criminal Procedure Law. Thus, the next revision of the …
Incentives For Change: China's Cadre System Applied To Water Quality, Wyatt F. Golding
Incentives For Change: China's Cadre System Applied To Water Quality, Wyatt F. Golding
Washington International Law Journal
The Chinese government has struggled to enforce environmental law, due in part to local protectionism. In an attempt to overcome local protectionism, the 2008 Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution uses the cadre system to incentivize local officials to enforce national water quality standards. This comment argues that the cadre system presents a pragmatic means of attaining enforcement of quantified environmental standards because it implements the already existing Chinese Communist Party’s system of vertical hierarchy that has proven relatively successful in achieving other social goals. The cadre system, however, will only produce clean water over the long-term …
Unjust Enrichment: An Alternative To Tort Law And Human Rights In The Climate Change Context?, Aura Weinbaum
Unjust Enrichment: An Alternative To Tort Law And Human Rights In The Climate Change Context?, Aura Weinbaum
Washington International Law Journal
It is generally accepted within the scholarly international community that global climate change is occurring and is due at least in part to anthropogenic activity. Strategies to mitigate climate change harms and adapt to inevitable climate change-induced consequences are influencing legal, political, and human rights frameworks. Thus far, international litigation attempts to hold emitters accountable have been unsuccessful: Tuvalu’s threat to sue the United States and Australia at the International Court of Justice, and the Inuit’s petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights were both hampered by procedural and substantive legal issues. Perhaps in response, the United Nations and …
Victoria's Window Dressing: How The Environment Effects Act Of 1978 Failed At Bastion Point, Taylor K. Wonhoff
Victoria's Window Dressing: How The Environment Effects Act Of 1978 Failed At Bastion Point, Taylor K. Wonhoff
Washington International Law Journal
In 1978, Victoria’s Parliament enacted the Environment Effects Act 1978 (“EEA”), creating procedures by which the state could call for environmental impact assessments prior to beginning work on proposed construction projects. The EEA, however, is significantly flawed, in that it authorizes the Planning Minister, an elected official, the power not only to promulgate guidelines for the administration of the environmental assessment process, but also the power to determine whether the environmental effects of a project are outweighed by the economic or social benefits of the project’s completion. A case study involving Bastion Point offers a prime example of the effect …
Civil Justice And The Constitution: Limits On Instrumental Judicial Administration In Japan, Mark A. Levin
Civil Justice And The Constitution: Limits On Instrumental Judicial Administration In Japan, Mark A. Levin
Washington International Law Journal
Numerous works have shown how central judicial administrators in Japan may ideologically influence the nation’s lower court judges. This piece draws upon these reports to analyze and frame these circumstances as “instrumental judicial administration,” qualitatively distinguishing the various means used by administrators and reflecting on their degrees of impact on civil procedural justice. Then, moving from description to prescription, the work provides a thorough consideration of the underlying legal context, broadly drawing from constitutional text and history, statutory text, and case law, before launching a search for solutions in its conclusion. Although the immediate focus is on how instrumental judicial …
Death By A Thousand Cuts: Incorporating Cumulative Effects In Australia's Environment Protection And Biodiversity Conservation Act, Jessica T. Dales
Death By A Thousand Cuts: Incorporating Cumulative Effects In Australia's Environment Protection And Biodiversity Conservation Act, Jessica T. Dales
Washington International Law Journal
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (“EPBCA” or “the Act”) is the Australian government's keystone piece of environmental legislation. The EPBCA provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities, and heritage places—defined in the Act as matters of National Environmental Significance (“NES”). The Act comes into play when a proposed action has the potential to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance. Although it has played a vital role in protecting Australia’s environment, the EPBCA does not explicitly address the cumulative impact of multiple actions on …
Regular Takings Or Regulatory Takings?: Land Expropriation In Rural China, Valerie Jaffee Washburn
Regular Takings Or Regulatory Takings?: Land Expropriation In Rural China, Valerie Jaffee Washburn
Washington International Law Journal
This article takes as its starting point the recent spate of unrest in rural China over government takings of rural, agricultural land. Though the popular and scholarly press has paid a great deal of attention to this issue, few analyses have explored in depth the institutional and legal framework surrounding it. This piece first attempts such an exploration and concludes that the underlying issues have as much to do with China's national land use regulatory system as they do with the behavior of local governments that seize privately-farmed land for other uses. In fact, it is more productive to see …
Explaining Constitutional Review In New Democracies: The Case Of Taiwan, Nuno Garoupa, Veronica Grembi, Shirley Ching-Ping Lin
Explaining Constitutional Review In New Democracies: The Case Of Taiwan, Nuno Garoupa, Veronica Grembi, Shirley Ching-Ping Lin
Washington International Law Journal
This paper extends the empirical analysis of the determinants of judicial behavior by considering the Taiwanese case. Taiwan is a particularly interesting case because the establishment and development of constitutional review corresponds to a political transition from an authoritarian regime dominated by one party to an emerging democracy. We test the attitudinal hypothesis by making use of a new dataset of ninety-seven decisions issued by the Taiwanese constitutional court in the period between 1988 and 2008. The attitudinal hypothesis is that the Taiwanese constitutional judges respond to party interests, either because their preferences coincide with the appointer or because they …
China's Compliance With International Law: What Has Been Learned And The Gaps Remaining, Roda Mushkat
China's Compliance With International Law: What Has Been Learned And The Gaps Remaining, Roda Mushkat
Washington International Law Journal
Chinese willingness and ability to play by the rules in the global arena is a critical issue that has long loomed large on the academic and policy agendas. A substantial body of knowledge has been built in the past two decades, shedding considerable light on key dimensions of the question. However, there is an apparent need to fine-tune the approach pursued thus far by seeking greater methodological robustness and better theoretical elucidation. Data collection procedures must be anchored more firmly in principles of scientific inquiry, providing a solid empirical foundation for reliable and valid generalizations, and single-cause explanations need to …
Addressing The Overrepresentation Of The Maori In New Zealand's Criminal Justice System At The Sentencing Stage: How Australia Can Provide A Model For Change, Joanna Hess
Washington International Law Journal
New Zealand’s 2002 Sentencing Act provides several ways a sentencing court may take an offender’s cultural or ethnic background into account. Given the disproportionate rate of recidivism among New Zealand’s indigenous Maori offenders and international and domestic concerns regarding this problem, the Act’s provisions offer one method for addressing and mitigating this issue. However, these sentencing provisions remain largely unknown or underused. This comment argues that in order to tackle these concerns, left unaddressed by the current Sentencing Act, New Zealand should restructure its sentencing provisions to follow the legislative model that is developing in Australian states, particularly the model …
A Lesser-Known Immigration Crisis: Federal Immigration Law In The Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands, Robert J. Misulich
A Lesser-Known Immigration Crisis: Federal Immigration Law In The Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands, Robert J. Misulich
Washington International Law Journal
After voluntarily entering into a political union with the United States, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (“CNMI”) administered its own immigration system and allowed thousands of guest workers to enter and remain indefinitely. Guest workers contributed to the exponential growth of the CNMI economy during the 1980s and 1990s. However, labor and human rights abuses under this system led to public outrage in the mainland United States, prompting numerous attempts to bring the CNMI within the jurisdiction of federal immigration law. Federalization occurred after Congress passed the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 (“CNRA”). Although well intentioned, the …
Patent Protection Of Medical Records—Focusing On Ethical Issues, Yūsuke Satō, Jiameng Kathy Liu
Patent Protection Of Medical Records—Focusing On Ethical Issues, Yūsuke Satō, Jiameng Kathy Liu
Washington International Law Journal
The following is a translation of “Patent Protection of Medical Methods—Focusing on Ethical Issues,” an article written by Professor Yūsuke Satō in the June 2007 issue of the Japanese periodical Annual of Industrial Property Law. In Japan, despite the lack of an explicit statutory prohibition, methods of medical treatment have never been patentable. The Japan Patent Office (“JPO”) has rejected patenting medical processes on ethical grounds, interpreting that they do not fulfill the statutory requirement of “industrial applicability” in the main sentence of Article 29, Section 1 of the Patent Act, and courts have been confirming this practice. In light …
An Alternative To Impact Litigation In China: The Procurator As A Legal Avenue For Cases In The "Private Family Sphere" Of Domestic Violence, Hai-Ching Yang
An Alternative To Impact Litigation In China: The Procurator As A Legal Avenue For Cases In The "Private Family Sphere" Of Domestic Violence, Hai-Ching Yang
Washington International Law Journal
Impact litigation, a popular technique among non-governmental organizations, while yielding numerous benefits, exercises limited influence over traditional family matters in China, like those of domestic violence. A closer examination of the factors attributed to the failure of the domestic violence case litigated by the Peking University’s Center for Women Law Studies and Legal Aid Services highlights the need to explore the potential of the procurator. As cases and events show “family matters” transgressing from the private to the public sphere and as setbacks continue to plague non-governmental organizations in their struggle to advance social causes, the institutionalized procurator can utilize …