Japanese-Chinese Civil Law Research (Volume 3)

Author: Qu Tao
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 Commission 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 Qiancilang to China to teach and assist in drafting the Civil Code. Due to certain reasons, Mei Qiancilang could not accept the invitation and recommended Matsuo Yoshimasa, a judge at the Tokyo Appellate Court. At the same time, Japanese scholars invited to China included Professor Okada Taro, a criminal law professor at the Imperial University; Koike Shichijiro, an administrative officer at the Ministry of Justice; and Professor Shita Koutarou, a commercial law professor at the Imperial University. Matsuo Yoshimasa came to China 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-part structure of the German Civil Code. Matsuo Yoshimasa drafted the General Provisions, Property Rights, and Obligations sections, while the Legal Drafting Commission, with the assistance of three law graduates from the Central University of Japan—Gousho and others—drafted the Family and Inheritance sections. It is evident that modern Chinese civil and commercial law and jurisprudence have benefited greatly from Japanese civil and commercial law and jurisprudence. 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 a purely civilian, aimed at advancing comparative studies of civil and commercial legislation, scholarship, and case law between China and Japan, fostering academic exchanges between civil and commercial law scholars in both countries, and facilitating the timely publication and dissemination of research findings. The series of publications was also launched. At the outset of the third volume of , we first introduce the achievements and main content of this volume. The accomplishments of this volume are based on the annual conference of the, held in June 2004, the third conference. The formal representatives at this conference numbered approximately 60, and two notable characteristics were observed in the composition of the participants compared to the previous two conferences. First, a significant number of commercial law scholars joined. Although the has always focused on the "civil" and "commercial" fields since its inception, the first two conferences' paper collections revealed a one-sided bias toward civil law. This year, however, there was a substantial improvement in this regard. Second, the participation of Korean scholars. In April 2003 (during the peak of the "SARS" outbreak), I was invited to attend the 2003 conference of the Korean Civil Law Society and the symposium on the unification of Korean-Chinese-Japanese sales law. There, I had the opportunity to meet the society's president, Professor Lee Young-jin (Dongguk University), and Professor Gao Xianglong (Academician of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, honorary professor at Chung-Ang University). Notably, Professor Gao Xianglong, having studied 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, our conversations were even more engaging. At that time, I invited these two distinguished Korean scholars to attend the 2004 conference of the. Despite their busy schedules, they kindly accepted the invitation, adding great value to the conference. Among the main scholars from Japan, there were the renowned civil law scholar Professor Hoshino Eiichi (Academician of the Japan Academy, honorary professor at the University of Tokyo, and distinguished professor at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences); civil law experts Professor Yuasa Michio (Aichi Gakuin University), Professor Chiga Koji (Waseda University), and Associate Professor Tanaka Junko (Ainai University); renowned commercial law experts Professor Uemura Tatsuo (Waseda University), Professor Zhou Jianlong (Chinese, Takushoku University), and Associate Professor Tanabe Genzo (); famous Chinese law experts from Japan, such as Professor Suzuki Ken (Hokkaido University), Professor Takizawa Toshiro (University of Tokyo), and Associate Professor Uda Katsunori (Nagoya University); and additionally, Professor Zou Hailin, director of the Commercial Law Research Office at the Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was specially invited to enhance the atmosphere of commercial law research. 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 in this conference, injecting vitality into the research society for the future. This conference maintained the format of separating presentations from discussions, as in the previous one, but extended the time for free discussion to the entire day. For the presentation section, we were fortunate to have Ms. Yang Jing, a top-tier simultaneous interpreter from China, attend to moderate the sessions, saving time and improving efficiency. Over the two days of the conference, scholars from both China and Japan engaged in in-depth discussions on hot topics in civil and commercial law. As always, the conference was imbued with the spirit of "academic sanctity," and scholars' pragmatic, rigorous, yet unadorned academic attitudes ensured that the discussions reached a high level of scholarship. The requirements for submitting manuscripts to are also one of its main features: all manuscripts must contain comparative content between Chinese and Japanese law or an introduction to Japanese law. The 21 academic reports, papers, and translations included in this volume's collection of essays were all selected strictly according to these requirements, and most of them were published for the first time in China. The topics covered are extensive, including general and specific discussions in civil and commercial law, intellectual property law, private international law, and newly formed specialized fields such as medical law. The establishment and successful third conference of the were made possible by the strong support of the Law School of Fudan University as the host institution, and the cooperation of Dapeng Securities Co., Ltd., Peking University Press, and Shanghai Chenggong Law Firm. The active participation of scholars was also crucial. On behalf of the research society, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the host institution and the funding organizations, as well as all scholars who actively participated in the conference, and to the professors and graduate students who assisted with the conference arrangements. Additionally, we thank President Huang Min and Editor Jiang Hao of Legal Publishing House for their willingness to continue publishing this young series of essays despite the increasingly challenging academic publishing environment. We are especially grateful to Editor-in-Chief Xu Yuheng and the other editors for their hard work on the collection. Furthermore, Yang Wei, a master's student from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2004, contributed significantly to the proofreading of this volume, and we are also grateful for their efforts. As mentioned in the preface to the first volume of , the and its edited series of essays aim to provide a platform for academic and legal practitioners in China and Japan to exchange ideas. While we are gratified by the progress we have made, we also recognize the heavy responsibility that lies before us. We sincerely hope that scholars and students who are committed to this cause will join our research society and contribute their wisdom to its growth, working together to advance this endeavor.