The State of Comparative Law in Asia

The first conference will examine: (1) the state of comparative scholarship between Asian law and European/US law; (2) the state of intra-Asian comparative law; and (3) the state of "intra-jurisdictional" comparisons within legally pluralistic Asian countries.

Comparative law in Asia or about Asia has often been about comparing Europe or the United States with Asia, with very little intra-Asian comparisons. Either through colonisation or in fewer cases through so-called "modernisation", almost all Asian jurisdictions have had to abandon most of their own legal traditions in most civil and commercial matters and receive some Western law as the most important formal component of their legal system. This process has led to contacts and comparisons between the Asian jurisdictions and their former colonising country or the Western country from which they borrowed most of their laws. With the increase of trade and exchanges within Asia and attempts at further economic integration, there is a need for more comparative work to be undertaken between Asian nations and between Asian traditions.

Teaching Comparative Law in Asia

The second conference will focus on the teaching of comparative law in Asia: (1) what types of comparative law courses are taught in the law schools of our different jurisdictions and how are these courses taught and (2) how, ideally, should comparative law be taught in Asia.