50th Anniversary Project:
Waseda University Institute of Comparative Law

Introduction : 50th Anniversary Projects

The Waseda University Institute of Comparative Law, founded in 1958, is to celebrate its 50th anniversary in the year of 2008. We have been leading the Japanese academics to some extent in the field of comparative law, through the publication of Comparative Law Review and Waseda Bulletin of Comparative Law, through the numerous symposiums and conferences, and through the joint research projects with oversee institutions.

Today, the conventional approaches to comparative law are greatly challenged. On one hand, the method to compare the capitalism law with the socialism law is no longer convincing after the collapse of the Communists regimes – therefore, the analytical framework shall be reconsidered. On the other hand, new legal developments in the globalizing market economy come more often to our attention, notably the “export” and the transplantation of laws through legal assistances.

The Institute of Comparative Law has been tackling these recent phenomena; our scholarly contributions include the publication of the “Comparative Law Studies Series”– Series No.30, A Next Stage of Studies of Comparative Law: For Theories of Reception of Law and Legal Transplants (2003), and the Series No. 32, International Context of Japanese Law: Index of Linkage with West and Asia (2005). We are expecting the third one of the series soon, that is, Japanese Law in Historical and Comparative Perspectives. They explore the methodology to deal with the new situations which comparative jurisprudence is now confronted. By doing so, they attempt to determine the present-day identity of the Japanese Law, which historically adopted European and American law.

In the age of global transformation of law, our jurisprudence too, shall be influenced by the changes – that requires us in turn to re-define the Japanese law in the international context. Our scholarly obligation in such a time may be, that we reevaluate the present importance of comparative law and send this message to the world from Japan.

For these objectives, the projects described here are in preparation.

At the 50th anniversary, the Institute of Comparative Law seeks to establish a structure through which we can effectively deal with the needs of the time, and enlarge our academic activities. For this end, intensive cooperation among the legal institutions inside the Waseda University is essential. We have several law-related departments and schools at Waseda – the School of Law, the Graduate School of Law, the Waseda Law School and the Waseda Institute for Corporation Law and Society (this is one of the “Centers of Excellence,” funded by the Japanese government as the leading academic institutions). The members of the Institute of Comparative Law consist of the professors of above all institutions, including former judges, prosecutors and lawyers. The Waseda University Law Association, comprised of all law faculties and students, is the supporting body of our academic and educational activities.

Waseda University celebrated the 125th anniversary in 2007. The number 125 has a special meaning due to a famous episode from the founder of the school, Shigenobu Okuma, and the university plans a variety of memorial events. The 50th anniversary of the Institute of Comparative Law follows the 125th anniversary of the university, so that they are designed ensemble.

We are honored to invite prominent scholars from abroad to participate in this academic and commemorative event.

Web : Digitalization of the scholarly achievements

We will digitalize the achievements of the Institute (for example, articles and records of the conferences, etc.) in the past 50 years and make them available on the WEB. It aims to universalize the knowledge acquired through the research, and to create a new system of academic cooperation and exchange through the internet. Information on Japanese law – which is rather difficult to obtain in English – will be more accessible, by way of English news letters and WEB journals that we plan. Our goal is to create a post to dispatch information on comparative law from Japan.

50th Anniversary Ceremony and Lecture

Date: Saturday, 26 July 2008, 13:30 to 17:30
Venue: Ono Auditorium, Bldg.27 Waseda Campus, Waseda University
Language: English, Japanese (simultaneous interpretation)
Co-hosted by: Waseda Institute for Corporation Law and Society (for Part 2)

Part 1: Ceremony

MC: Prof. Takashi Hakoi (Vice Director)

Opening Address: Prof. Michiatsu Kaino (Director)
Congratulations: Prof. Teruaki Tayama (Vice President, Waseda University)
Congratulations from Guest Speakers:
Prod. Lin Li (Director, Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences/ Director Faculty of Law of the Graduate School of the Chinese
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Albin Eser (Director Emeritus, Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law/ Visiting Professor, Ritsumeikan University College of Law)
Prof. Avrom Sherr (Woolf Professor of Legal Education, Director of Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London)
Prof. Shuhei Maruyama (Director, Institute of Comparative Law in Japan, Professor of Law, Chuo University)
Prof. Emeritus. Syoji Shinozuka (Former Director, Institute of Comparative Law, Waseda University)

Part 2: Lecture

Lecture One
Title: Human Rights in the Rome Statute (for the International Criminal Court) Framework
Lecturer: Sir Adrian Fulford (High Court Judge in the United Kingdom and Judge of the International Criminal Court in the Hague)
Chair: Prof. Morikazu Taguchi (Waseda Law School, Waseda University)

Lecture Two
Title: The Reception of the Rechtsstaat Concept in Japan: Its Construction in Administrative law and Expansion in Constitutional Law
Lecturer: Prof. Yasuo Hasebe (Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo)
Chair: Prof. Toru Nakajima (Waseda Law School, Waseda University)

International Symposium :
Legal Terminology in the Era of Globalization
--Comparative Studies on Legal Transplant in Europe and East Asia--

Date: (Day1) Saturday, 8 December 2007, 9:30 to 17:30, (Day2) Sunday, 9 December 2007, 10:00-17:30
Venue: (Day1) Conference Room 106, Bldg.8, Waseda Campus, Waseda University, (Day2) Masaru Ibuka Auditorium, International Conference Center
Language: English, Japanese (simultaneous interpretation)
Organized by: Waseda University Institute of Comparative Law and COE Waseda Institute for Corporation Law and Society
Supported by: Waseda University Law School

Opening Ceremony

MC: Prof. Takashi Hakoi (Vice Director)

Opening Address: Prof. Michiatsu Kaino (Director)
Welcoming words: Prof. Teruaki Tayama (Vice President, Waseda University)
Welcoming Remarks: Prod. Takehiko Sone (Dean, Waseda University Graduate School of Law), Prof. Kaoru Kamata (Dean, Waseda Law School)

Part 1: Prospects of European Law (Day 1)

Coordinators: Prof. Michiatsu Kaino and Noriyuki Aoki

1. The Aim of the Symposium (Prof. Michiatsu Kaino)
2. What's 'Japanese' about the Japanese Legal System? An American Perspective (Prof. Eric A. Feldman (University of Pennsylvania))
3. Development of Sources of European Law and Methodology of Comparative Law (Prof. Stefan Vogenauer (Director of the Institute of European and Comparative Law at University of Oxford))
4. Contemporary Contexts of Modern Legal Thoughts (Prof. Hideo Sasakura)
5. Universality and Contest of Law in a Comparative View of Legal Technical Assistance -Europe and East Asia (Emeritus Prof. Rolf Knieper (Bremen University))
6. Context of Technical Legal Assistance and Significance of the Knieper Theory (Prof. Yoshiki Kurumisawa (Waseda University))

Part 2: Japanese Law and East Asia (Day 1-2)

Coordinators: Prof. Koji Ohmi and Weidoug Ji

1. Introduction to Part II (Prof. Koji Ohmi)
2. East Asian Private Law: Reception of German Law and Development of Taiwan Civil Code (Emeritus Prof. Wang Zejian (National Taiwan University, Former Grand Justice))
3. Acceleration of Market oriented Economies in Asia and the Idea of Civil-Commercial Law (Prof. Tatsuo Uemura (Dean, Faculty of Law, Waseda Uniersity and Director, the 21st Century Center of Excellence the Waseda Institute for Corporation Law and Society))
- Special Comments from Japanese Civil Code Reform Standpoint (Dr. Takashi Uchida (Former Prof. of Law of The University of Tokyo, Senior Advisor for the Ministry of Justice))
4. Reception of Pandekten Jurisprudence in Chinese Civil Law: Introduction, Degeneration, and Regeneration (Prof. Sun Xianzhong (Chinese Academy of Social Science, Director of Civil Law Division))
5. Trend of Korean Civil Code Reform and Pandekten (Prof. Kim SangYong (Yonsei University: Korean Institute of Legal Reseach))
6. Dynamism of Reception and Diversity of Law: Network Society, Rule Games and Institutional Change (Prof. Weidong Ji (Kobe University)

Part 3: Discussion (Day 2)

Coordinators: Prof. Koji Ohmi, Weidong Ji, Michiatsu Kaino and Noriyuki Aoki

Project A:
Comparative Law and Jurisprudence : In Prospect of a New Century

It is characteristic to Japanese jurisprudence to scrutinize the nature of the Japanese law by making comparisons with foreign laws. Our mode of analysis has been shaped by the modern European thoughts, yet there is still a room for reinterpretation. The conventional jurisprudence, which is centered around the written codes, seems to be in transition:the reconstruction of the jurisprudence as a discipline may be called for. This project seeks to reposition comparative law from a historical and comparative point of view.

Project B:
Studies on Changing Law of Litigations in the 21st Century

Its objective is to explore into the structural legal changes in conflict resolution system, by picking up some issues common to legal practice and theory. The feature of this project is in its attempt to bridge the scholars and those who are practicing law, and to promote their cooperation, while, in our country, the lack of communication and exchange between them is often criticized. We will invite some prominent scholars and lawyers/prosecutors to our lectures, and raise issues which concern us all in judicial circles.