Japanese-Chinese Civil Law Research. Volume 3

Author: Qu Tao, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-06-01
Features: The adoption of foreign law in modern China began in the early 20th century. In 1902, Emperor Guangxu issued an edict: "Adopt foreign laws and revise legal codes." The Legal Drafting Office was established to oversee the drafting of legal codes. In 1906, Legal Drafting Minister Shen Jiaben sent Vice Ministers Dong Kang and others to Japan to study judicial and prison systems, and invited the renowned civil law scholar Mei Qianciyang to China to teach and assist in drafting the Civil Code. Due to circumstances, Mei Qianciyang could not accept the invitation and recommended Matsuo Yoshimasa, a judge at the Tokyo Appellate Court. At the same time, other Japanese scholars invited included Professor Okada Taro, a criminal law professor at the Imperial University; Koike Shichijiro, an administrative official at the Ministry of Justice; and Professor Shita Koutarou, a commercial law professor at the Imperial University. Matsuo Yoshimasa came to China in that year and took up the position of a civil law instructor at the Capital Legal Academy. In 1908, the drafting of the Civil Code began, adopting the five-branch system of the German Civil Code. Matsuo Yoshimasa drafted the General Provisions, Property Rights, and Obligations sections, while the Legal Drafting Office, with the assistance of three law graduates from the Central University of Japan—Goshu and others—drafted the Family and Inheritance sections. It is evident that modern Chinese civil and commercial law and the study of civil and commercial law have benefited greatly from Japanese civil and commercial law and the study thereof. Since the reform and opening-up, civil and commercial legislation, such as the Contract Law of 1999, has also drawn heavily on Japanese legislation and scholarship. The ongoing drafting of the Civil Code should particularly emphasize the valuable experience accumulated by Japanese civil law over more than a century. Therefore, we have connected with academic colleagues to establish the China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research Association, a purely civilian organization, aimed at advancing comparative studies of China-Japan civil and commercial legislation, scholarship, and case law, fostering academic exchanges between Chinese and Japanese civil and commercial law scholars, and facilitating the timely publication and dissemination of research findings. The series publication China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research was also launched. At the outset of the third volume of China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research, we first introduce the achievements and main contents of this volume. The accomplishments of this volume are based on the annual conference of the China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research Association, held in June 2004—the Third Conference. The conference had approximately 60 official representatives, with two notable characteristics in terms of participant composition compared to the previous two conferences. First, a large number of commercial law scholars joined. Although the China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Conference has always focused on the "civil" and "commercial" fields since its establishment, the first two conferences' proceedings revealed a one-sided bias toward civil law. This year, significant progress was made in this regard. Second, the participation of Korean scholars. During my invitation to the 2003 conference of the Korean Civil Law Association, which coincided with the SARS peak in April 2003, I had the opportunity to meet the association's president, Professor Lee Young-jung (Dongguk University), and Professor Gao Xianglong (Academician of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, former honorary professor at Chung-Ang University). Notably, Professor Gao Xianglong, with a background of studying at the University of Tokyo, had no language barriers with me. Additionally, as he had been a student of Professor Hoshino Eiichi, a former Japanese representative of the China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research Association, our conversations were even more engaging. At that time, I invited these two distinguished Korean scholars to participate in the 2004 conference of the China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research Association. Despite their busy schedules, they kindly attended, adding great value to the conference. Among the main scholars from Japan, we had the renowned civil law scholar Professor Hoshino Eiichi (Academician of the Japan Academy, honorary professor at the University of Tokyo, and special professor at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), civil law expert Professor Yuasa Michio (Aichi Gakuin University), Professor Konishi Koji (Waseda University), and Associate Professor Tanaka Junko (Aoyama Gakuin University). The renowned commercial law scholars included Professor Uemura Tatsuo (Waseda University), Professor Zhou Jianlong (Chinese, Takushoku University), and Associate Professor Tanabe Genzo (). The famous Chinese law experts from Japan were Professor Suzuki Ken (Hokkaido University), Professor Takizawa Toshiro (University of Tokyo), and Associate Professor Uda Katsunori (Nagoya University). Additionally, to enhance the research atmosphere in commercial law, Professor Zou Hailin, director of the Commercial Law Research Office at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was specially invited. There were also five Chinese scholars working and studying in Japan. The rest were domestic scholars and legal practitioners from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhejiang, Shandong, Nanjing, and other regions. It is particularly worth mentioning that many new scholars who recently returned to China and took up positions in universities were included, injecting vitality into the association's future development. This conference maintained the previous format of separating presentations from discussions but extended the free discussion period to a full day, building on the experience of the previous conference. For the presentation section, we were fortunate to have Ms. Yang Jing, a top-tier domestic simultaneous interpreter, attend to moderate the sessions, saving time and improving efficiency. Over the two-day conference, scholars and experts engaged in in-depth discussions on hot topics in China-Japan civil and commercial law. As always, the conference was imbued with the spirit of "academic sanctity," and scholars' pragmatic, rigorous, and unpretentious academic attitudes ensured that the discussions reached a high academic level. The China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research series has the requirement that all submitted papers must include comparative studies of Chinese and Japanese law or introductions to Japanese law. The 21 academic reports, papers, and translations included in this volume's proceedings are all selected strictly according to this requirement, and most are published for the first time in China. The topics cover a wide range, including general and specific discussions in civil and commercial law, intellectual property law, private international law, and the newly established specialized field of medical law. The China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research Association, starting from scratch, successfully held the Third Conference thanks to the strong support of the Law School of Fudan University as the host, and the collaboration of Dapeng Securities Co., Ltd., Peking University Press, and Shanghai Chenggong Law Firm. The active participation of Chinese and Japanese civil and commercial law scholars was also crucial. On behalf of the association, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the host institution, the funding organizations, the scholars who actively participated, and the professors and graduate students involved in the conference arrangements. Additionally, we thank President Huang Min and Editor Jiang Hao of Legal Publishing House for continuing to accept this newly established series of proceedings despite the growing challenges in academic publishing. We are especially grateful to Editor-in-Chief Xu Yuheng and the other editors for their hard work. Furthermore, we thank Yang Wei, a graduate student from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2004, for his extensive efforts in proofreading the text of this volume. We also express our gratitude to all those who contributed to the proceedings. As mentioned in the opening remarks of the first volume of China-Japan Civil and Commercial Law Research, the association and its edited series aim to provide a platform for exchange between Chinese and Japanese civil and commercial law scholars and the legal profession. While we are gratified by the progress made, we also recognize the immense challenges ahead. We sincerely hope that respected scholars and students who are committed to this cause will join our association, contribute ideas, and work together to advance this field.