Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

Why Japan Should Legalize Surrogacy, Trisha A. Wolf

Washington International Law Journal

Beyond a recommendation from the Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology to not work with patients who want to engage in surrogacy contracts, no legal framework exists for regulating surrogacy in Japan. Because of this recommendation, as of December 2013, only one doctor in the entire country will work with families using surrogates. Therefore, Japanese families often travel abroad to use surrogates, generally to the United States, India, or Thailand. Surrogacy tourism creates a number of problems. Babies born to surrogates have been considered stateless because neither the surrogate’s country nor Japan recognizes them as citizens. Furthermore, Japan’s complex family …

Criminal Liability Of Arbitrators In China: Analysis And Proposals For Reform, Duan Xiaosong

Washington International Law Journal

This article is prompted by a Chinese criminal provision governing the impartiality of arbitration. The goals of the article are to critically examine the criminal statute created by the provision and to put forward some proposals for reform, which can be employed to resolve the tension that exists between arbitrator impartiality and deference to arbitration. Although the provision appears to eliminate the abuse of arbitral power, it may raise more questions than it resolves. This article explores the problems and undertakes a comparative analysis of the corresponding United States provision as well as an analysis of some cultural and traditional …

The Emerging Structures Of Socialist Constitutionalism With Chinese Characteristics: Extra-Judicial Detention And The Chinese Constitutional Order, Larry Catá Backer, Keren Wang

Washington International Law Journal

China is developing its own distinctive path towards socialist constitutionalism and rule of law, one that reflects China's history and its unique circumstances but also conforms to the general principles of transnational constitutionalism. The Chinese constitutional order is grounded on a principal of separation of powers that distinguishes between an administrative power assigned to the government and a political authority assigned to the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”). This constitutional order is reflected in two related but distinct legal contexts—laojiao (the system of administrative detentions, re-education through labor, or “劳动教养”) and shuanggui (the system of intra-CCP discipline of its cadres, …

Cause Lawyering In Japan: Reflections On The Case Studies And Justice Reform, Daniel H. Foote

Chapters in Books

Each of the case studies presented in this volume is an important and fascinating story in its own right. Taken together, the case studies enrich our understanding of cause lawyering and the relationship between law and social change in Japan. Despite their rather disparate subjects, the studies dovetail exceptionally well. They show numerous commonalities in the use of law to further social causes, as well as some important differences. They reveal a truly impressive level of creativity in the use of law, and they disclose several common barriers to successful litigation to promote social causes in Japan. As discussed below, …

Supreme People's Court Annual Report On Intellectual Property Cases (2012) (China), Shudan Zhu

Washington International Law Journal

Beginning in 2008, the Supreme People’s Court of China started publishing the Annual Report on Intellectual Property Cases each April. By summarizing and reviewing intellectual property cases recently decided, the annual reports cover legal issues of general guidance that are selected to reflect adjudication standards and methods, as well as legal policies endorsed by the Supreme People’s Court. This translation includes all 34 cases and 37 legal issues as set forth in the 2012 Annual Report, touching on patent law, trademark law, copyright law, competition law, and litigation procedure. Although China is not a common law country, these cases still …

Dare You Sue The Tax Collector? An Empirical Study Of Administrative Lawsuits Against Tax Agencies In China, Ji Li

Washington International Law Journal

Though taxes are as certain as death, each year tens of thousands of people in the United States go to court to challenge their assessed tax liabilities, and many succeed. By contrast, very few Chinese taxpayers litigate against tax agencies, and most of those who sue eventually settle, despite low formal litigation costs. China’s nonlitigious culture does not fully explain the reluctance to sue, as courts in Taiwan adjudicate five times more lawsuits against tax agencies. Judicial bias favoring government officials, weak enforcement of judgments against the state, and agency retaliation help to explain the aversion to litigate disputes with …

Reproductive Justice Begins With Contraceptive Access In The Philippines, Elisabeth S. Smith

Washington International Law Journal

Restrictive Philippine laws and a lack of public funding have limited Filipinos’ access to modern contraception, resulting in high maternal mortality rates, high birth rates, unmet needs for family planning, and health disparities between the lowest-income and wealthier women. Following the 1991 decentralization reforms, Local Government Units plan, administer, and fund most Philippine health services. In the context of reproductive healthcare, decentralization has led to inequality, inadequate financing, successful opposition to contraception by the Catholic Church, and a lack of clear national standards. After a fourteen-year legislative struggle, on December 21, 2012, President Aquino signed “The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive …

Reap What You Sow: Soil Pollution Remediation Reform In China, Dustin D. Drenguis

Washington International Law Journal

As China undergoes the fastest economic development in the history of the world, so too has its environmental problems shattered all precedents. While China’s leaders recognize they must change course, environmental concerns have long taken a back seat to economic development. Soil pollution is destroying China’s environment, affecting public health, and reducing the country’s food supply. Soil pollution slows China’s economic development, preventing land development in urban centers. Soil pollution also threatens China’s social stability because it has inspired marginalized groups to organize in protest of environmental conditions. Environmental remediation, or the obligations of a facility or the government to …

Government Liability For Regulatory Failure In The Fukushima Disaster: A Common Law Comparison, Joel Rheuben

Washington International Law Journal

This article considers the Japanese government’s response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power disaster, in assisting Tokyo Electric Power Company (“TEPCO”) with handling claims for compensation. It argues that in setting guidelines for claims, establishing a government alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) body to deal with disputes, and creating a convoluted funding structure that has led to the effective nationalization of TEPCO, the government has intervened significantly in what are essentially private disputes governed by the Nuclear Compensation Law. This is contrasted with the less interventionist response of the New South Wales government in Australia to mass tort claims for asbestos …

More Market-Oriented Than The United States And More Socialist Than China: A Comparative Public Property Story Of Singapore, Jianlin Chen, Jiongzhe Cui

Washington International Law Journal

Compared to the more illustrious conceptualization of private property, the conceptualization of public property remains at a surprisingly infantile stage. The very definition of public property is ambiguous. This article utilizes a comparative case study of traffic congestion policies in the United States, China, and Singapore to highlight the conceptual pitfalls posed by the current confusion on public property. This article proposes a refined public property framework that offers greater conceptual clarity on the real issues at stake. In particular, this article argues that “property” in public property should include regulatory permits while “public” in public property should not be …

Citizen Participation: Appraising The Saiban’In System, Daniel H. Foote

Articles

Of the many reforms affecting the Japanese judiciary that were undertaken in connection with the recommendations of the Justice System Reform Council, one reform above all attracted widespread public attention: the introduction of the so-called saiban'in system. In this system, mixed panels of professional judges and lay jurors judge guilt and assess penalties in serious criminal cases. Following a five-year preparation period, the new system went into effect for the specified categories of crimes for which indictments were issued on or after May 21, 2009, with the first trials under the new system commencing in August 2009. Pursuant to the …

Transplanting Secured Transactions Law: Trapped In The Civil Code For Emerging Economy Countries, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Bich T. Nguyen

Articles

It is time for Vietnam to amend its secured transactions law by creating a body of secured transactions law separate from the Civil Code. This new secured transactions law should embody the international community’s unitary approach. Separating secured transactions law from the Civil Code would allow Vietnam to revise its secured transactions law to respond and adapt to market reality, without waiting for the entire Civil Code to be revised all at once.

What Can Comparative Legal Studies Learn From Feminist Legal Theories In The Era Of Globalization, Dana Raigrodski

Articles

This article re-examines the field of comparative law and comparative legal studies through the lens of feminist legal theories/studies (FLT). It suggests that lessons learned from the development of FLT and insights from shared epistemology and methodology within FLT can inform the ongoing controversies within comparative legal studies and provide comparative legal scholars and practitioners with the tools to maximize the benefits of comparative legal studies in the era of increasing global interdependence.

Part II begins by briefly reviewing key controversies and critiques within comparative legal studies. It highlights the debate on whether comparative law encompasses a substantive area of …

Beijing Municipal Regulation To Reward And Protect Persons Of Courageous Behavior, Annamarie C. Larson, Melody W. Young

Washington International Law Journal

The Beijing Municipal Regulation to Reward and Protect Persons of Courageous Behavior was enacted on April 21, 2000, and has been in force since August 1, 2000. This translation serves as a source of reference for context on the similar emerging legislation in Guangdong province. The translation is based on Beijing Municipal People’s Congress Standing Committee Bulletin No. 21.

Guangdong Province Regulation To Reward And Protect Persons Of Courageous Behavior, Annamarie C. Larson, Melody W. Young

Washington International Law Journal

The Guangdong Province Regulation to Reward and Protect Persons of Courageous Behavior emerged after the Foshan hit-and-run incident in 2011. This translation serves as a source of reference on the newly enacted legislation. The regulation was enacted on November 29, 2012 and is now in effect as of January 1, 2013. This translation is based on Bulletin No. 89 issued December 20, 2012 by the 11th Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Guangdong Province.

Gene Patents In Australia: A Game Theory Approach, Kate M. Mead

Washington International Law Journal

Gene patent validity is one of the most controversial issues in patent law. In Australia, the question of whether to eliminate human gene patents has reached both Parliament and the federal courts. Opponents of gene patents argue that gene patents increase the cost of healthcare and impede progress in genetic research. Proponents respond that gene patents are essential incentives for the biotech industry, and that Australia has an obligation to recognize them under the WTO-administered Treaty on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”). Because patents require inventors to publically disclose their discoveries, Australia’s rejection of the gene patent system …

The Aftermath Of Peng Yu: Restoring Helping Behavior In China, Melody W. Young

Washington International Law Journal

Can money motivate heroic deeds? China believes so. After Xu XX v. Peng Yu developed a poor judicial precedent that lowered the evidentiary bar for plaintiffs in a personal injury claim, the media’s focus on the controversial reasoning of the case created public fear of civil liability. High-profile media attention on similar events that followed reinforced the fears that the Peng Yu case engendered and chilled helping behavior in China. Yet, a tragic hit-and-run accident involving a two-year-old child in Foshan, China reinvigorated the discourse on the restoration of helping behavior in China. Guangdong Province proposed new legislation to counteract …

Mexico's Missed Opportunities To Protect Irregular Women Transmigrants: Applying A Gender Lens To Migration Law Reform, Alyson L. Dimmitt Gnam

Washington International Law Journal

Mexico is a transit country for hundreds of thousands of migrants traveling north. Due to economic liberalization, women increasingly migrate in search of employment opportunities, a phenomenon called the “feminization of migration.” As women migrate, they face high risks of sexual and gender-based violence, including sexual assault, rape, kidnapping, and trafficking. During transit, the impunity of organized criminal groups and corrupt state officials facilitate rampant abuse of women. Mexico’s former migration policy exacerbated women’s vulnerability to abuse by criminal organizations by pushing women into dangerous illicit migration channels. In response to the abuse of transmigrants, Mexico passed a sweeping migration …

Layers Of The Law: A Look At The Role Of Law In Japan Today, Andrew M. Pardieck

Washington International Law Journal

In 1967, Professor Kawashima wrote about a world of vaguely defined rights and norms in Japan. This article argues that world still exists. But it now co-exists with a world that commonly defines rights, in great detail, and regularly invokes them. There are layers of the law in Japan. Primary ordering of relationships and services is often based on complex, legalistic contracts and regulation; secondary ordering is often based on equity, Japanese notions of equity. Examples from contract, employment, and environmental law and practice illustrate this. For each, this paper examines both sides of the coin—transactional ordering and litigated outcomes. …

Capital Structure, Creditor Composition, And Insolvency Law In Japan, Benjamin T. Jones

Washington International Law Journal

This article identifies potential relationships between the methods by which large firms in the business sector are externally financed and creditors’ determinations to resolve business failure through private negotiation or formal insolvency proceedings. Prior to the deregulation of Japan’s capital markets in the 1980s, large firms relied heavily on bank debt as a source of external capital. Consequently, their capital structures and their creditor compositions were relatively homogenous. Japanese banks appeared to primarily resolve the failure of their borrowers through private reorganizations or liquidations rather than court proceedings, and evidence suggests that creditor homogeneity was a favorable condition for the …

Cloudy Weather, With Occasional Sunshine: Consumer Loans, The Legislature, And The Supreme Court Of Japan, Shigenori Matsui

Washington International Law Journal

The Supreme Court of Japan, despite its well-known passive and conservative stance towards constitutional adjudication, occasionally shows quite a creative and liberal attitude. Recently, the Supreme Court of Japan has shown this attitude in its development of pro-consumer jurisprudence involving consumer loan cases. This development is still more noteworthy because the Supreme Court of Japan ignored the legislature’s intent to overturn its previous judgments and practically wiped out a statutory provision enacted by the legislature. As a result of this development, millions of consumers could demand refunds from consumer loan companies, and consumer loan companies went into serious financial troubles, …

The Role Of Courts In "Making" Law In Japan: The Communitarian Conservatism Of Japanese Judges, John O. Haley

Washington International Law Journal

Professor Haley is an outstanding international and comparative law scholar, widely credited with having popularized Japanese legal studies in the United States. In 1969, Haley received a fellowship from the University of Washington and was in one of the first classes to graduate from the Asian Law Program, now, the Asian Law Center. After working for several years in law firms in Japan, he joined the law faculty at the University of Washington, where he remained for nearly twenty-six years during which time he directed the Asian and Comparative Law Program. In June 2012, Professor Haley was awarded The Order …

Indigenous Restitution In Settling Water Claims: The Developing Cultural And Commercial Redress Opportunities In Aotearoa, New Zealand, Jacinta Ruru

Washington International Law Journal

Water is important to all peoples, including indigenous peoples. In recent years, the government in Aotearoa, New Zealand has utilized various cultural redress-type legal mechanisms to recognize and revive the importance of water to the Maori people’s identity, health, and wellbeing. These mechanisms create revolutionary modern opportunities for Maori to participate in the decision-making of how specific waters are used and protected. In particular, the negotiated agreements for the Te Arawa Lakes, and the Waikato, Waipa, and Whanganui rivers are studied in this article as prominent examples of how the government has agreed to, for example, co-management regimes. With the …

Protecting The Spiritual Beliefs Of Indigenous Peoples—Australian Case Studies, Michael Blakeney

Washington International Law Journal

This article examines the extent to which the spiritual beliefs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are protected under current Australian law. The first significant recognition by the High Court of Australia of the legal rights of indigenous peoples was in relation to native title over real property. As those peoples define their status and society by reference to their relationship with the land, this article considers the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to protect their spiritual beliefs as an incident of native title law. It reviews a line of intellectual property cases which have been a more fruitful source of …

The Struggle For Laws Of Free, Prior, And Informed Consultation In Peru: Lessons And Ambiguities In The Recognition Of Indigenous Peoples, Elizabeth Salmón G.

Washington International Law Journal

Despite the fact that Peru ratified ILO Convention 169 on December 2, 1993 and was therefore bound by those dispositions, it adopted public policies without consulting indigenous people. This lack of dialogue led to social conflict over the management of natural resources. In June 2009, a violent episode of social unrest emerged in the provinces of Bagua and Utcubamba during the government of Alan García after the entry into force of the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (“PTPA”). Indigenous people believed that PTPA aimed to sacrifice rainforest conservation for oil and mining exploitation. In this context, indigenous people grew frustrated …

Undrip And The Intervention: Indigenous Self-Determination, Participation, And Racial Discrimination In The Northern Territory Of Australia, Anna Cowan

Washington International Law Journal

The adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“UNDRIP”) by the General Assembly in 2007 was a landmark achievement in the development of indigenous rights under international law, particularly through its unequivocal recognition of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination. That same year, Australia launched a comprehensive Intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, which purported to safeguard important human rights but was heavily criticized for its discriminatory and non-consultative approach. This article explores the meaning of self-determination under international law, now that the long debate over whether indigenous peoples are “peoples” has finally been …

China's Foreign Invested Partnership Enterprise Law: The Lifeless Or Sleeping Dragon?, Samuel H. Shaddox

Washington International Law Journal

Investors and the Chinese government tout the March 2010 authorization of the Foreign Invested Partnership as an exciting new method for foreign investment in China. However, this comment argues that the Foreign Invested Partnership is not likely to become a vibrant short or long-term platform for foreign direct investment. The historical trends of China’s three other vehicles for foreign direct investment from 1979 to the present provide two key conclusions. First, foreign investors will not utilize Foreign Invested Partnerships until they receive detailed implementing regulations from China’s central government. Second, support or restrictions from the Chinese government can drive or …

Recognizing The Feminization Of Displacement: A Proposal For A Gender-Focused Approach To Local Integration In Ecuador, Johanna L. Gusman

Washington International Law Journal

The feminization of displacement refers to the phenomenon in which women represent an increasingly disproportionate percentage of displaced populations worldwide. The objective of this comment is to raise awareness of this growing problem and recommend that policymakers craft legal responses to better address this reality, using Ecuador as an example. Specifically, this comment outlines how a gender-focused approach to local integration in Ecuador can rectify a refugee policy that never once mentions gender and is silent on the most pressing issues facing refugee women and girls in the area: sexual and gender-based violence. Through the proposal put forth in this …

Mobile Money, Financial Inclusion And Financial Integrity: The South African Case, Vivienne A. Lawack

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The usage of mobile banking and in particular, payments by means of mobile phones, has increased in recent years in South Africa, with consequent impacts from a legal and regulatory point of view. South Africa is a developing economy with a large “unbanked” sector. That is, a large segment of the population does not have bank accounts and “banking” happens through informal means. This Article deals with the legal and regulatory framework pertaining to mobile money and examines issues relating to financial integrity and financial inclusion as they present themselves in South Africa. The author states that the regulatory framework …

Confucian Jurisprudence In Practice: Pre-Tang Dynasty Panwen (Written Legal Judgments), Norman P. Ho

Washington International Law Journal

Most scholarship on Chinese legal philosophy has neglected the study of Confucian jurisprudence in practice. As a result of this incomplete portrayal, scholars predominantly view the premodern Chinese Confucian legal tradition as lacking a rule of law system, which has led to blaming Confucianism for much of China’s modern and historical rule of law problems. This article seeks to complicate this view by examining Confucian jurisprudence in practice: specifically, the development of pre-Tang dynasty panwen (written legal judgments). Through analysis of specific panwen from various Chinese primary sources—many of which have never been translated into English—this article will show that …