 |
|
 |
| |
Director: Professor Ian Townsend-Gault Faculty of Law Welcome to the homepage of the Centre for Asian Studies at the Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia. We are the largest group of academics teaching and researching Asian legal issues in Canada. We focus on the law and legal culture of China (including Taiwan), Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, with a particular emphasis on Indonesia and Vietnam. The core of the Centre is comprised of four faculty members who are responsible for one of these jurisdictions/areas. In addition, senior graduate students assist with the teaching program as instructors. We also have an ever-increasing number of visiting scholars from many Asian countries, made up of academics, practitioners, prosecutors, judges, and other researchers (see the section on our Visiting Scholars Program, below). Research projects include a program an Asia-Pacific Dispute Resolution supported by the Major Collaborative Initiatives Program (MCRI) of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). This project, undertaken in collaboration with UBC’s Institute of Asian Research, involves archival and interview research on attitudes in China, Japan, and Canada about international rule regimes in trade and human rights, and analysis in light of a paradigm of ‘selective adaptation.’ Additional projects include a SSHRC-funded project on China’s laws and policies on governance relations in the periphery. Other projects involve socio-legal research on issues of sustainable development, human rights, and globalization. We offer a range of courses in Asian Law, and these are listed below (click on the links for Course Descriptions). In addition to the efforts of faculty and visiting scholars, our work is furthered by graduate and undergraduate students.
This site contains information on our four core programs, in Chinese Legal Studies, Japanese Legal Studies, Korean Legal Studies, and Southeast Asian Legal Studies, and their Directors, as well as courses in Asian law, research and other projects, links with partner institutions and our Visiting Scholars Program.
Chinese Legal StudiesDirector: Professor Pitman Potter
Research projects include a Chinese Legal Culture Project, a Chinese Securities Market Project, a Chinese Justice Project and a Chinese Foreign Investment Law Project. Publications have appeared in the China Quarterly , East Asian Executive Reports , The China Law Reporter and the UCLA Pacific Rim Law Journal .
Japanese Legal StudiesDirector: Professor Shigenori Matsui
Japanese Legal Studies also sponsors a number of visiting scholars and guest lecturers from, amongst others, Japan, Australia and the United States who make a significant contribution to the academic and professional activities of the Faculty. The main research project to date under the Japanese Legal Studies program is a six year project into the cultural, social, legal, economic, administrative and medical context of mental health care in Japan and the situation of psychiatric patients and their families.
Korean Legal StudiesActing Director: Professor Shigenori Matsui
UBC Law Faculty is the only place in Canada that maintains the Korean Legal Studies Program. As social and legal intercourse between Canada and Korea is increasing rapidly, the demand for Korean legal studies is also growing. The program promotes international legal exchange and Korean legal studies in Canada and in Northern America. In 2006, the Faculty signed a cooperation agreement with the Faculty of Law at Korea University, which will promote academic exchanges and joint projects. Also in that year, the Korea Foundation announced a substantial grant to the Centre to lay the foundation for a permanent chair in Korean Legal Studies. We have also concluded cooperation agreement with the Supreme Court of Korea. A number of judges, prosecutors, law professors, and practicing attorneys from Korea are accepted as visiting scholars each year for the duration of six month to a year. They enrich the academic environment of the faculty by undertaking cross-cultural scholarship in a wide range of legal topics
Southeast Asian Legal StudiesDirector: Professor Ian Townsend-Gault
Southeast Asia is an extremely disparate region, comprising Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor Leste, Thailand, and Vietnam. CALS personnel have worked in all of these countries except Burma and Timor Leste, and this has enabled the Centre to develop good working relationships, including exchange agreements, with a number of partner institutions, including the National University of Singapore, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, the University of the Philippines, the National University of Vietnam, and the National University of Lao at P.D.R. We have not yet developed courses on the law of any of these countries, but hope to do so before long. In the meantime, our general introductory course Introduction to Asian Legal Systems always includes a component on either Vietnam or Indonesia.
Law Library Asian Collection
Visiting Scholars Program
Applicants should submit an application to the Centre for Asian Legal Studies by email to Cals@law.ubc.ca , by fax to the Centre for Asian Legal Studies at (604) 822-8108, or by mail addressed to the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, 1822 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z1, Canada. The application should include:
Applications are normally considered three times, in March, in July, and in October. The application should be submitted at least five months prior to the applicant's anticipated arrival in Canada. Recommendations are made to the Dean of the Faculty of Law, who makes the final decision as regards invitations. EVENTS “Chinese Legal Reform: The Rule of Law and Administrative Processes” The Centre for Asian Legal Studies presents: Photos
The Third UBC Law – Korea University Law School International Workshop: the Judicial Reform in Asia and its Implications for the Canadian Legal System, October 21st, 2009
CALS Visiting Scholars and Faculty, September 2007
Professors Tae-Ung Baik and Shigenori Matsui with CALS Visiting Scholars, UBC Graduate and Exchange Students, after a tour of the Law Courts in Vancouver which included a lecture by Crown Counsels Trevor Shaw and Kevin Gillett, November 2, 2007.
|
| |
Last reviewed 23-Nov-2011 to top | UBC.ca © Copyright The University of British Columbia, all rights reserved. |
hinese Legal Studies at
U.B.C. offers general and specialized training in the field of Chinese
law and promotes scholarly exchanges with outside institutions,
in particular the Faculty of Law at Beijing University and the National
Taiwan University with which the Law Faculty has agreements for
the exchange of scholars and graduate students. The program also
has close ties with the Law Institutes of both the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences in Beijing and the Shanghai Academy of Social
Sciences as well as the University of Hong Kong Law Faculty. 
he Japanese Legal Studies
program was inaugurated in 1980 with a grant from the Law Foundation
of British Columbia and the Max Bell Foundation. Formal co-operation
and exchange relationships have been established with the Law Faculties
of Japanese national universities in Osaka, Hokkaido and Niigata
and with Chukyo in Nagoya and each year students are selected to
study under a University Education Abroad Agreement at Sophia University
in Tokyo. 
