This book focuses on the legal systems of the late-developing countries of ASEAN (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, often referred to as the CLMV countries). These nations are apt to be placed in an economically disadvantageous situation within the opportunity of communalization of legal systems being advanced by the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) launched in 2015, and the book clarifies the dynamics of the changes within these legal systems. Concurrently, there is an intention to analyze the “legal system development support” that has continued to be provided to these countries since the mid-1990s via international development support from international organizations and developed countries including Japan. In particular, the emphasis has been on the area of civil law, where the main subject of Japan’s support has been centered on the civil code and civil procedure code. The legal system of the recipient country is complicated by the crisscrossing of the remnants of previous eras, from the inherent laws that have existed since before colonization, the laws of the colonial powers that were introduced during the colonial era (French law in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam; English law in Myanmar), the influence of socialist law after independence from colonization, and the path of modern industrialization and development, such that one country's legal system is the combination of all of these influences. For the reader to understand the dynamics of these changing laws, each chapter of the book combines two methodological perspectives. The first is to ascertain the spatial range as to how far the civil law extends across social phenomena. The second is a historical perspective in which the trends in legal changes will be understood on a time axis.

Through an in-depth legal analysis by leading scholars, this book searches for the exact legal causes of land-related disputes in Asia within the histories, legal systems and social realities of the respective countries. It consists of four main parts: examining the relationship between law and development; land-taking in developmental stages; common ownership; and proposals for new approaches to land law and dispute resolution. With a combination of orthodox legal interpretations and the empirical approach of legal sociology, the contributors undertake an extensive comparative legal analysis across common and civil law traditions. Most importantly, they propose pathways forward for legal transformations in the pursuit of sustainable development in Asia. This book is vital contribution to the study of comparative law, and especially property law, in East and Southeast Asia.

This book examines how law functions in a multitude of facets and dimensions. The contributions shed light on the study of comparative law in legal scholarship, the relevance of comparative law in legal practice, and the importance of comparative law in legal education. The book will particularly appeal to those engaged in the teaching and scholarship of comparative law, and those seeking to uncover the various significant dimensions of the workings of law. The book is organised in three parts. Part I addresses scholarship, with contributors examining comparative legal issues as critique and from a theoretical framework. Part II outlines practice, with contributors discussing the function of comparative law in such comparatively diverse areas as international arbitration, environment, and the rule of law. Part III appraises comparative law in education.

This book examines the outcomes of the economic law reforms in Asian developing countries, guided by the leading international development financiers such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Included is a particular focus on the recent “insolvency law” reforms in the Asian emerging economies, such as Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Such legal reforms are the results of the “transplant” of the model law provided by these donor agencies, a law that was created in the post-Asian Currency Crisis in the 1990s. This book therefore examines the outcomes of three decades of donor-guided legal reforms. Appropriately, it applies not only the static approach to the legal texts but also an empirical methodology through interview surveys of the corporate and financial sectors. Following the introduction in Chapter I, Chapter II reviews the basic theories and presents the methodological framework. Chapter III then analyzes the contents of insolvency law reforms in the major target countries, namely, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Chapter IV provides a closer investigation into the design choices of Myanmar’s 2020 Insolvency Law as a typical example of the law reform involving the inter-donor conflict of law models between the Asian Development Bank and Japan’s official development assistance project. Lastly, Chapter V applies an empirical approach to the functioning of insolvency law, through international collaboration for interview surveys with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their financiers.

How do Asian courts ascertain, interpret, and apply a foreign law as the law governing the merits of the case? What should judges do if parties do not raise or disagree on the content of foreign law? This thematic volume in the Studies in Private International Law – Asia series analyses the treatment of foreign law before judicial authorities, that is, how the courts of Asian states deal with the proof of foreign law in court litigation involving cross-border elements. The individual chapters cover 15 Asian jurisdictions: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India. The Introduction and Conclusion examine similarities and differences in the approaches taken by the 15 Asian states with a view to assessing the extent to which those approaches are consistent or different from each other. The book also puts forward suggestions for harmonising differing approaches, especially between Asian common law and civil law states. The book is a one-stop reference guide on the treatment of foreign law in Asia and will be indispensable to judges, practitioners, and scholars not just in Asia, but worldwide.

This thematic volume in the series Studies in Private International Law – Asia outlines the general choice of law and recognition rules relating to family matters of 15 Asian jurisdictions: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. The book examines pressing questions and proposes ways in which their systems may be reformed. A concluding chapter considers the extent to which Asian cross-border family law systems can and should be harmonised. The book provides a comprehensive analysis of cross-border family law challenges, including child surrogacy, child abduction, the recognition of same-sex unions, the recovery of maintenance, and the regulation of intercountry adoption. These are among the matters now testing Asian institutions of private international law and acting as forces for their modernisation. With contributions by leading Asian private international law experts, the book proposes necessary reforms for each of the jurisdictions analysed as well as for Asia as a whole.

With new technologies constantly being created, implemented, and sold, it is a robust opportunity for companies to hop on board with the latest digital trends. With the business world undergoing rapid changes and advancements in current times, the transformation process has been rapid and the disruptions significant. This has created a culture of innovation and a plethora of available business opportunities, especially when focused on Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Along with these innovative technologies and new opportunities in the business world comes challenges and trends within the Asian region that require more attention and advanced research to fully understand this digital transformation era and the resulting impacts, challenges, and solutions. The Handbook of Research on Disruptive Innovation and Digital Transformation in Asia addresses key topics for understanding business opportunities in Asia, covering a variety of challenges and nations in the Asian region from technological disruption and innovation to connectivity and economic corridors in Asia, Islamic finance and tourism, and more. Due to its innovative topics and approaches, geographical focus, and methodologies, the chapters provide readers with a unique value in bringing new perspectives to understanding emerging businesses and challenges in Asia. This book is ideal for professors in academia, deans, students, politicians, policymakers, corporate heads of firms, senior general managers, managing directors, information technology directors and managers, and researchers.

Legal Reform in the Contemporary Socialist World explores four decades of legal reform in the socialist countries of China, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, and Cuba from a comparative perspective. Spanning the late 1970s to the present, it examines various projects, methods, strategies, contents, driving forces, and limitations of legislative reform, administrative reform, judicial reform, and reform of the legal profession. Legal reform in these countries is the project of the political elite to improve the legal system while retaining its core socialist principles. It is carried out through legislative enactments, amendments, and replacements, which the political elite adopt using incremental strategies to reform the legal system sporadically or systematically. Socialist legal reform is animated by the political aspiration to create the rule of law, the impact of social-economic change, and the influence of transnational and comparative law. Despite significant reforms, the socialist principles of the legal systems in these countries largely remain intact. This legal reform, however, varies considerably by country. Legal Reform in the Contemporary Socialist World offers a holistic view of understudied jurisdictions in comparative law, essential for anyone studying or working in these areas in law, politics, or policy.

This book reviews the periodic changes in the legal policies of the late-developing ASEAN countries, often known as the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam), in their continuous path toward globalization after the collapse of the socialist bloc. The book also identifies the characteristics of the legal reforms in their present stage guided by the common framework under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) moving toward 2025. The first stage is illustrated by the ASEAN-style utilization of foreign investments as reflected in all investment laws and policies of CLMV countries in the 1990s, which featured entry control (as “sticks”) and investment incentives (as “carrots”). Those controls and incentives were the means to induce investors to assume various performance requirements to contribute to industrial policies. The second stage witnessed a shift toward enhanced liberalization as an endeavor toward the WTO accession during the 2000s, as seen in the integrated investment laws that appealed for the national treatment of foreign investors. At the same time, those investment laws emphasized the substantive provisions (e.g., fair and equitable treatment and indirect expropriation) and procedural protections (e.g., provision of Investor–State Dispute Resolution mechanisms) as an appeal for stabilization of the investment climate. The third stage of legal policy, as evidenced by the recent amendments to the investment laws, is newly focused on environmental and social considerations, which seems to be an indispensable response to the increasing social protests against the negative impacts of investment promotion. Simultaneously, the means of administrative controls over investors, established in the first stage, are uniquely utilized for the realization of new goals.