Routledge Studies in Asian Law – serie

This book examines important social movements in Hong Kong from the perspectives of historical and cultural studies. Conventionally regarded as one of the most politically stable cities in Asia, Hong Kong has yet witnessed many demonstrations and struggles against the colonial and post-colonial governments during the past one hundred years. Many of these movements were brought about in the name of justice and unfolded against the context of global unrest. Focusing on the local developments yet mindful of the international backdrop, this volume explores the imaginaries of law and order that these movements engendered, revealing a complex interplay among evolving notions of justice, governance, law and order and cultural creations throughout the under-explored history of instability in Hong Kong. Underscoring the apparently contrasting discourses on the relationship among the rule of law, law and order and social movements in Hong Kong, the contributors emphasise the need to re-examine the conventional juxtaposition of the law and civil unrest. Readers who have an interest in Asian studies, socio-political studies, legal studies, cultural studies and history would welcome this volume of unique interdisciplinarity.

This book examines China’s striving for a constitutional order in the 20th century from comparative, historical, and theoretical perspectives.Through a comprehensive study of six major constitutional reforms experienced by China in the last century, Shiping Hua explores pragmatism, instrumentalism, statism, and favoritism as the key features of the Chinese legal culture. Demonstrating that these characteristics have roots in China’s ancient past and coincide with modern communist legal theory, it argues that Chinese legal culture has greatly impacted upon the country’s move to modernize its legal system. By analyzing key constitutional periods in China’s history, this book also evaluates patterns that can be used to better comprehend not only China’s present legal reform but its future legal developments too.As the first book to examine how the Chinese legal culture has affected constitutional reform in the 20th century, Chinese Legal Culture and Constitutional Order will be useful to students and scholars of Asian and constitutional law, as well as Chinese Studies more generally.Winner of the 2019 ACPSS (Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States) Best Scholarly Publication Award for Original Research.

The legal institutions of the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BCE) have been vilified by history as harsh and draconian. Yet ironically, many Qin institutional features, such as written statutory law, were readily adopted by subsequent dynasties as the primary means for maintaining administrative and social control. This book utilizes both traditional texts and archeologically excavated materials to explore how these influential Qin legal institutions developed. First, it investigates the socio-political conditions which led to the production of law in written form. It then goes on to consider how the intended function of written law influenced the linguistic composition of legal statutes, as well as their physical construction. Using a function and form approach, it specifically analyses the Shuihudi legal corpus. However, unlike many previous studies of Chinese legal manuscripts, which have focused on codicological issues of transcription and translation, this book considers the linguistic aspects of these manuscripts and thus their importance for understanding the development of early Chinese legal thought. Writing Chinese Laws will be useful to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, as well as Asian law and history more generally.

Public health law has been a subject of much controversy and contestation, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. This timely book inquires into the foundational principles of a form of public health law that takes seriously the inherent dignity of the human person. Written from a multidisciplinary perspective, this illuminating study makes the case that the rule of law, just as much as population health, is an essential determinant of human well-being. Choosing the case of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, where life expectancy is among the highest in the world, yet whose well-established rule of law tradition is oft perceived to be under strain, in describing the central dilemmas of public health law, it makes an original contribution to our knowledge of comparative public health law and public health ethics. Situating Hong Kong’s public health law in the context of global health, The Law and Regulation of Public Health should appeal across the world to students and scholars of public health, medical law, public law, comparative law, and international law. It accessibly explains the law to epidemiologists and public health policymakers, and public health to jurists and legal practitioners. This book lucidly urges professionals of public health and law to reflect on how the myriad legal instruments and legal institutions should best be used to promote and protect public health in ways that are at once ethical and lawful. It is a must read for anyone who is interested in gaining insights into public health law and regulation in this highly internationalised Chinese Special Administrative Region.

Public health law has been a subject of much controversy and contestation, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. This timely book inquires into the foundational principles of a form of public health law that takes seriously the inherent dignity of the human person. Written from a multidisciplinary perspective, this illuminating study makes the case that the rule of law, just as much as population health, is an essential determinant of human well-being. Choosing the case of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, where life expectancy is among the highest in the world, yet whose well-established rule of law tradition is oft perceived to be under strain, in describing the central dilemmas of public health law, it makes an original contribution to our knowledge of comparative public health law and public health ethics. Situating Hong Kong’s public health law in the context of global health, The Law and Regulation of Public Health should appeal across the world to students and scholars of public health, medical law, public law, comparative law, and international law. It accessibly explains the law to epidemiologists and public health policymakers, and public health to jurists and legal practitioners. This book lucidly urges professionals of public health and law to reflect on how the myriad legal instruments and legal institutions should best be used to promote and protect public health in ways that are at once ethical and lawful. It is a must read for anyone who is interested in gaining insights into public health law and regulation in this highly internationalised Chinese Special Administrative Region.

Many jurisdictions in Asia have vested their courts with the power of constitutional review. Traditionally, these courts would invalidate an impugned law to the extent of its inconsistency with the constitution. In common law systems, such an invalidation operates immediately and retrospectively; and courts in both common law and civil law systems would leave it to the legislature to introduce corrective legislation. In practice, however, both common law and civil law courts in Asia have devised novel constitutional remedies, often in the absence of explicit constitutional or statutory authorisation. Examining cases from Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines, this collection of essays examines four novel constitutional remedies which have been judicially adopted - Prospective Invalidation, Suspension Order, Remedial Interpretation, and Judicial Directive - that blurs the distinction between adjudication and legislation.

When Korea began as a newly independent state in 1948, its economy was very underdeveloped and the rule of law was just established. The journey of democratization in Korea was not without challenges. This book traces the history of the legal philosophy development in Korea and highlights Korea's unique experience. This book shows how Western legal philosophy has been accepted in Korea, a non-Western country that has newly introduced the Western legal system and what role the legal philosophy has played in social context. The book also examines academic scholars' intellectual activities in a historical context and how their intellectual products are yielded through their continuous response to the circumstances of the time. It specifically looks at the many challenging tasks legal philosophers had to overcome in a society when the rule of law and democracy had not yet settled. The book explores how Korean legal philosophers coped during such unique historical situations. It also illustrates how Korean scholars accepted German and Anglo-American legal philosophies and integrated them to change social realities of Korea. Through Korea’s experience, this book will provide insights into how modern legal philosophy develops in a new state and what legal philosophers' responses would be like during such a process. The developing process of legal philosophy in Korean society will interest not only readers in countries who have had similar experiences to Korea, but also readers in the West.

When Korea began as a newly independent state in 1948, its economy was very underdeveloped and the rule of law was just established. The journey of democratization in Korea was not without challenges. This book traces the history of the legal philosophy development in Korea and highlights Korea's unique experience. This book shows how Western legal philosophy has been accepted in Korea, a non-Western country that has newly introduced the Western legal system and what role the legal philosophy has played in social context. The book also examines academic scholars' intellectual activities in a historical context and how their intellectual products are yielded through their continuous response to the circumstances of the time. It specifically looks at the many challenging tasks legal philosophers had to overcome in a society when the rule of law and democracy had not yet settled. The book explores how Korean legal philosophers coped during such unique historical situations. It also illustrates how Korean scholars accepted German and Anglo-American legal philosophies and integrated them to change social realities of Korea. Through Korea’s experience, this book will provide insights into how modern legal philosophy develops in a new state and what legal philosophers' responses would be like during such a process. The developing process of legal philosophy in Korean society will interest not only readers in countries who have had similar experiences to Korea, but also readers in the West.

China has developed a piecemeal pattern of regulating foreign investment since the end of 1970s. The latest law is the Foreign Investment Law (FIL), which became effective on 1 January 2020. The groundbreaking new FIL is well acknowledged for its promises and affirmations pledged to investors, signalling China’s eagerness to improve its investment environment and regain momentum for investment growth. This book provides an updated and holistic understanding of the key features of the regulatory regime on foreign investment in China with critical analysis of laws and their implementation. It also examines sensitive and complex legal issues relevant to foreign investment beyond the 2020 FIL and new developments on foreign-related dispute settlement. The book uses cases of success and failure to illustrate the nuances and differences between law and practice regarding foreign investment. Considering China’s magnitude in the global economy and the weighty role of the regulatory system on foreign investment in China, this book is of great interest to a wide range of audience including academics in the field of investment law, legal practitioners, policymakers, and master's students in law and in management.

China has developed a piecemeal pattern of regulating foreign investment since the end of 1970s. The latest law is the Foreign Investment Law (FIL), which became effective on 1 January 2020. The groundbreaking new FIL is well acknowledged for its promises and affirmations pledged to investors, signalling China’s eagerness to improve its investment environment and regain momentum for investment growth. This book provides an updated and holistic understanding of the key features of the regulatory regime on foreign investment in China with critical analysis of laws and their implementation. It also examines sensitive and complex legal issues relevant to foreign investment beyond the 2020 FIL and new developments on foreign-related dispute settlement. The book uses cases of success and failure to illustrate the nuances and differences between law and practice regarding foreign investment. Considering China’s magnitude in the global economy and the weighty role of the regulatory system on foreign investment in China, this book is of great interest to a wide range of audience including academics in the field of investment law, legal practitioners, policymakers, and master's students in law and in management.

Through an in-depth legal analysis by leading scholars, this book searches for the exact legal causes of land-related disputes in Asia within the histories, legal systems and social realities of the respective countries. It consists of four main parts: examining the relationship between law and development; land-taking in developmental stages; common ownership; and proposals for new approaches to land law and dispute resolution. With a combination of orthodox legal interpretations and the empirical approach of legal sociology, the contributors undertake an extensive comparative legal analysis across common and civil law traditions. Most importantly, they propose pathways forward for legal transformations in the pursuit of sustainable development in Asia. This book is vital contribution to the study of comparative law, and especially property law, in East and Southeast Asia.

Through an in-depth legal analysis by leading scholars, this book searches for the exact legal causes of land-related disputes in Asia within the histories, legal systems and social realities of the respective countries. It consists of four main parts: examining the relationship between law and development; land-taking in developmental stages; common ownership; and proposals for new approaches to land law and dispute resolution. With a combination of orthodox legal interpretations and the empirical approach of legal sociology, the contributors undertake an extensive comparative legal analysis across common and civil law traditions. Most importantly, they propose pathways forward for legal transformations in the pursuit of sustainable development in Asia. This book is vital contribution to the study of comparative law, and especially property law, in East and Southeast Asia.

This book is a critical analysis of several of the most disaster-prone regions in Asia. Its unique focus is on the legal issues in the phase of disaster recovery, the most lengthy and difficult stage of disaster response that follows the conclusion of initial emergency stage of humanitarian aid. In the stage of disaster recovery, the law decides the fate of reconstruction for the individual houses and livelihoods of the disaster-affected people and sets the limit of governmental support for them during the lengthy period of suspension of normal living until full recovery is obtained. Researchers who were participant-observers in the difficult recovery phase after the mega-disasters in Asia analyse the reality of the functions of law which often hinder, rather than foster, efforts to restore disaster victims’ lives. The book collects research conducted with an emphasis on empirical approaches to legal sociology, including direct interviews with people affected by the disaster. It offers a holistic approach beyond the traditional sectionalism of legal studies by starting with a historical review and incorporating both spheres of public law and private law, in order to obtain a new perspective that can concurrently achieve disaster risk reductions and human-centered recoveries.With particular emphasis on the unexplored area of law in the post-disaster recovery phase, this book will attract the attention of students and scholars of disaster studies, legal studies, Asian studies, as well as those who work in the practice of disaster management.

In the past century, Asian nations have experienced a wave of democratisation as countries in the region have gained independence or transitioned from authoritarian military rule towards more participatory politics. At the same time, there has been an expansion of judicial power in Asia, whereby new courts or empowered old ones emerge as independent constraints on governmental authority.This is the first book to assess the judicial review of elections in Asia. It provides important insights into how Asian courts can strategically engage with the political actors in their jurisdictions and contribute to a country’s democratic discourse. Each chapter in the book sheds light on the judicial review of elections and the electoral process in a specific Asian jurisdiction, including Common Law Asia, namely Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, and Singapore, as well as jurisdictions in Civil Law Asia, namely Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. It fills a gap in the literature by addressing a central challenge to democratic governance, namely the problem of partisan self-dealing in the electoral processes.By exploring the constantly evolving role of the courts in addressing pivotal constitutional questions, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian Law, Governance and Politics.

The legal institutions of the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BCE) have been vilified by history as harsh and draconian. Yet ironically, many Qin institutional features, such as written statutory law, were readily adopted by subsequent dynasties as the primary means for maintaining administrative and social control. This book utilizes both traditional texts and archeologically excavated materials to explore how these influential Qin legal institutions developed. First, it investigates the socio-political conditions which led to the production of law in written form. It then goes on to consider how the intended function of written law influenced the linguistic composition of legal statutes, as well as their physical construction. Using a function and form approach, it specifically analyses the Shuihudi legal corpus. However, unlike many previous studies of Chinese legal manuscripts, which have focused on codicological issues of transcription and translation, this book considers the linguistic aspects of these manuscripts and thus their importance for understanding the development of early Chinese legal thought. Writing Chinese Laws will be useful to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, as well as Asian law and history more generally.

This book examines China’s striving for a constitutional order in the 20th century from comparative, historical, and theoretical perspectives.Through a comprehensive study of six major constitutional reforms experienced by China in the last century, Shiping Hua explores pragmatism, instrumentalism, statism, and favoritism as the key features of the Chinese legal culture. Demonstrating that these characteristics have roots in China’s ancient past and coincide with modern communist legal theory, it argues that Chinese legal culture has greatly impacted upon the country’s move to modernize its legal system. By analyzing key constitutional periods in China’s history, this book also evaluates patterns that can be used to better comprehend not only China’s present legal reform but its future legal developments too.As the first book to examine how the Chinese legal culture has affected constitutional reform in the 20th century, Chinese Legal Culture and Constitutional Order will be useful to students and scholars of Asian and constitutional law, as well as Chinese Studies more generally.Winner of the 2019 ACPSS (Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States) Best Scholarly Publication Award for Original Research.

This book examines Indonesian laws regulating state administration, in other words, the relationship between the Indonesian government and its citizens.This book uses public administration science to explain state administrative law. It covers the historical evolution of state administrative law in Indonesia, the political and legal acceptance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Indonesia as well as the ratification of the 2020 Omnibus Law reforms. It evaluates both the benefits and drawbacks of establishing laws through the Omnibus Law model, and the challenges of its adoption by the Indonesian statutory system. The book also examines state administrative law in other Southeast Asian countries, to provide a more nuanced understanding of how human rights implementation occurs in the respective legal regimes.Covering the legal reforms and changes to state administrative law in Indonesia, this book will be of keen interest to scholars of state administrative law, public administration, and constitutional law.

This book explores the ethical and governance concerns of stem cell technology, taking a comparative approach between countries of differing socio-economic status.The book provides a typology of different stem cell types and discusses key ethical issues surrounding the use of human stem cells in research. Topics covered include the moral status of human embryos, various religious perspectives, and the challenges posed by unproven stem cell interventions. The book also examines the existing governance frameworks in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Malaysia, identifying the laws, guidelines, and advisory bodies established to address the identified ethical issues. Applicable lessons on establishing robust regulatory frameworks, fostering public trust, and ensuring responsible research practices are outlined.By providing a comparative analysis of the interplay between ethics, governance, and the socio-economic contexts of these three commonwealth countries, this book will interest health law, research ethics, and bioethics scholars.

This book systematically identifies the challenges and features of law and development, as faced by small island developing states (SIDS). The book contextualizes this through the case study of Niue, a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand since 1974.The book surveys literature to discuss the features and vulnerabilities of SIDS and the challenges of law and development in these contexts. It then analyses the case of Niue and covers the current situation regarding the rule of law and access to justice on the island. It further analyses the impact of COVID-19 on the fragility of the Niuean justice system. The book considers the case study of Niue and discusses how rule of law assistance is rendered in the Pacific region. It discusses previous law and justice projects implemented by international organizations and bilateral donors, and recommends ways forward to improve human rights and access to justice in these vulnerable states.This book will appeal to scholars of law and development, rule of law, and Pacific law. It will also provide a comprehensive resource on Niuean law for residents and legal practitioners.

This book discusses the codification and decodification of private law in the Chinese context with a specific focus on property management services contracts as a distinct example within the broader category of supply of services contracts.The book begins by contextualizing codification and decodification within the current literature and legislative developments at the global level. It then turns to the Chinese Civil Code, using property management services contracts as a case study of its decodification. It assesses these contracts both within the Chinese legal system and through a comparative law lens, using the Roman law model of lease and hire and Hong Kong law. The book argues that, due to significant decodification present at the very moment of promulgation, the Civil Code failed to achieve its goal of ensuring coherence in China’s private law system.These insights will interest scholars of comparative law, Chinese law, Roman law and contract law, as well as policymakers and lawmakers discussing strategies for regulation and transformations of law in other jurisdictions.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of Malaysia's biobanking landscape, examining the complex intersection of ethics, law, and culture in a rapidly developing healthcare research environment.Adopting a case-based methodology, this book presents realistic scenarios that mirror dilemmas faced by ethics committees, researchers, and policymakers. Each chapter begins with a hypothetical case study followed by detailed commentary analysing ethical concerns, regulatory gaps, and best practices within Malaysia's unique socio-legal context. By exploring globally relevant topics like informed consent in multicultural settings, religious perspectives on tissue ownership, data privacy in cross-border collaborations, commercialisation of biospecimens, and incidental findings management, this book bridges the gap between academic theory and professional application.This book will be of interest to scholars of bioethics, medical law, healthcare regulation, and health policy, especially those in Southeast Asia.

Many jurisdictions in Asia have vested their courts with the power of constitutional review. Traditionally, these courts would invalidate an impugned law to the extent of its inconsistency with the constitution. In common law systems, such an invalidation operates immediately and retrospectively; and courts in both common law and civil law systems would leave it to the legislature to introduce corrective legislation. In practice, however, both common law and civil law courts in Asia have devised novel constitutional remedies, often in the absence of explicit constitutional or statutory authorisation. Examining cases from Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines, this collection of essays examines four novel constitutional remedies which have been judicially adopted - Prospective Invalidation, Suspension Order, Remedial Interpretation, and Judicial Directive - that blurs the distinction between adjudication and legislation.

The proposed book draws on the on-going South China Sea dispute, and the multifaceted challenges wrought by the South China Sea issue that requires an inter-disciplinary perspective. It employs legal-analytical methods, to emphasize the nuances of the role and interpretation of international law and treaties by China in different periods, while taking into account policy and strategic concerns, which generally cast great sways in decision-making. The re-introduction of interdisciplinary concerns straddling law and history illustrates that the historical dimension, which has long been neglected, is an emerging concern that poses looming dangers that may unexpectedly radicalize the friction. Contributing to debunking the mystique wrought by confrontations between a historical and a law-dominated perspective, these perspectives are supported by a more nuanced analytical framework, featuring theoretical concerns with a tinge of practicality. The South China Sea Dispute aims to unveil a nuanced evolution of the issue with a confluence of inter-temporal law, policy and maritime practices in the South China Sea.

This book examines important social movements in Hong Kong from the perspectives of historical and cultural studies. Conventionally regarded as one of the most politically stable cities in Asia, Hong Kong has yet witnessed many demonstrations and struggles against the colonial and post-colonial governments during the past one hundred years. Many of these movements were brought about in the name of justice and unfolded against the context of global unrest. Focusing on the local developments yet mindful of the international backdrop, this volume explores the imaginaries of law and order that these movements engendered, revealing a complex interplay among evolving notions of justice, governance, law and order and cultural creations throughout the under-explored history of instability in Hong Kong. Underscoring the apparently contrasting discourses on the relationship among the rule of law, law and order and social movements in Hong Kong, the contributors emphasise the need to re-examine the conventional juxtaposition of the law and civil unrest. Readers who have an interest in Asian studies, socio-political studies, legal studies, cultural studies and history would welcome this volume of unique interdisciplinarity.

This book is a critical analysis of several of the most disaster-prone regions in Asia. Its unique focus is on the legal issues in the phase of disaster recovery, the most lengthy and difficult stage of disaster response that follows the conclusion of initial emergency stage of humanitarian aid. In the stage of disaster recovery, the law decides the fate of reconstruction for the individual houses and livelihoods of the disaster-affected people and sets the limit of governmental support for them during the lengthy period of suspension of normal living until full recovery is obtained. Researchers who were participant-observers in the difficult recovery phase after the mega-disasters in Asia analyse the reality of the functions of law which often hinder, rather than foster, efforts to restore disaster victims’ lives. The book collects research conducted with an emphasis on empirical approaches to legal sociology, including direct interviews with people affected by the disaster. It offers a holistic approach beyond the traditional sectionalism of legal studies by starting with a historical review and incorporating both spheres of public law and private law, in order to obtain a new perspective that can concurrently achieve disaster risk reductions and human-centered recoveries.With particular emphasis on the unexplored area of law in the post-disaster recovery phase, this book will attract the attention of students and scholars of disaster studies, legal studies, Asian studies, as well as those who work in the practice of disaster management.

The proposed book draws on the on-going South China Sea dispute, and the multifaceted challenges wrought by the South China Sea issue that requires an inter-disciplinary perspective. It employs legal-analytical methods, to emphasize the nuances of the role and interpretation of international law and treaties by China in different periods, while taking into account policy and strategic concerns, which generally cast great sways in decision-making. The re-introduction of interdisciplinary concerns straddling law and history illustrates that the historical dimension, which has long been neglected, is an emerging concern that poses looming dangers that may unexpectedly radicalize the friction. Contributing to debunking the mystique wrought by confrontations between a historical and a law-dominated perspective, these perspectives are supported by a more nuanced analytical framework, featuring theoretical concerns with a tinge of practicality. The South China Sea Dispute aims to unveil a nuanced evolution of the issue with a confluence of inter-temporal law, policy and maritime practices in the South China Sea.