| Class Schedule |
Lesson 1. The Western Powers' Expansion into East Asia with Unequal Treaties
: While Western powers expanded into Asia and established colonial rule, they pursued semi-colonial control through unequal treaties in cases where their strength was insufficient. Japan, Korea, and China all encountered Western legal systems primarily through the impetus of these unequal treaties.
Lesson 2. China’s Response: From Self-Strengthening to Institutional Reform
: The Opium War resulted in the Treaty of Nanjing, which pushed China onto the path of semi-colonization. The defeat in the Sino-Japanese War made China acutely aware of the limits of merely importing Western artifacts, leading to the realization that legal reform was essential.
Lesson 3. Japan’s Response: The Meiji Restoration and Modern Legal Systems
: Upon Commodore Perry’s arrival and the opening of its ports, Japan faced domestic turmoil. This led to the Meiji Restoration, which adopted the slogan of rejecting foreign powers. However, the Meiji government actively pursued Westernization, accepting modern legal systems to revise unequal treaties.
Lesson 4. The Code Dispute and the Ritual Propriety Debate
: The introduction of modern Western legal systems clashed with traditional East Asian institutions and concepts. In Japan, this conflict manifested as the so-called "Code Dispute," In China’s Qing dynasty, it developed into the "Ritual Propriety Debate," centered around the penal codes drafted by Shen Jiaben.
Lesson 5. The Modernization of Korea's Legal System
: Japan, having learned from Perry’s approach, similarly opened Korea’s ports. Following this, Korea entered treaties with Western powers and began adopting modern legal systems under significant Japanese influence. After Korea was annexed by Japan, Japanese legal systems were fully applied there.
Lesson 6. Legal Systems in Japan's Colonial Territories
: Korea and Taiwan were integrated into Japan, but, in reality, there were significant differences in the application of laws between the colonies and the Japanese mainland. Manchukuo, a puppet state, claimed to be an independent nation and established its legal system. And other regions were governed as occupied territories.
Lesson 7. Governance by Ordinances
: Governors-general were dispatched to Korea and Taiwan, and they could issue ordinances with the same power as laws. In 1912, Japan promulgated ordinances that applied many Japanese civil and criminal laws to Korea, except for personal status, family law, and inheritance law, which followed local customs.
Lesson 8. Korea’s Traditional Legal System: The Unified Legal Code System
: The first ordinance after the 1910 annexation maintained the legal system of the Korean Empire. With the 1912 ordinance above establishing Japanese law as the fundamental legal system, areas based on Korea’s traditional legal system were still recognized, necessitating an understanding of Joseon Dynasty’s law.
Lesson 9. Korea's Traditional Civil Law System
: The High Court in colonial Korea had to understand and verify Korean customs to make judgments, especially regarding family and inheritance laws. Even before this, during the Korean Empire, extensive civil and commercial customs surveys were conducted in preparation for codification, with scholars like Ume Kenjiro playing a leading role.
Lesson 10. Traditional Korean Litigation
: There are many misconceptions about litigation in the Joseon Dynasty, including the belief that there was almost no litigation and no distinction between civil and criminal cases. Such misunderstandings continue to influence current perceptions, like some aspects of Japan.
Lesson 11. Disputes and Legal Culture in Japan
: Despite rapid economic development, Japan's low litigation rates have long raised international questions. Explanations based on Japan’s cultural traditions by scholars like Kawashima Takeyoshi have been widely accepted but have faced many challenges, weakening their persuasive power.
Lesson 12. Korea's Legal Culture and Judicial Reform Debates
: In Korea, the low litigation rate was also often attributed to cultural factors, but empirical research has primarily overcome these views. Current discussions focus on institutional factors and shortcomings in the judicial infrastructure, which are central to debates about judicial reform.
Lesson 13. The Era of Theoretical Reception
: Initially, Japan's reception of Western law focused on codification but gradually shifted towards incorporating Western legal theories and doctrines, particularly German Pandekten legal studies, into Japanese legal thought and practice. It was also the effort to create Japanese-style jurisprudence.
Lesson 14. The Irony of Influential Chains
: The practical influence of theoretical reception was perhaps most significant in Korea's legislation. Japanese legal scholars like Wagatsuma Sakae led the drafting of Manchukuo’s civil code, which contained many legal theories that differed from those of the Japanese. That code was significantly reflected in Korea’s civil code drafting.
Lesson 15. Comprehensive Discussion
We will summarize and discuss the whole lecture.
Assignments (reports, etc.) will be required during class periods. |