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Chair of International Economic Law with a Focus on East Asia
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Japan

Why German Lawyers Should Engage with Japanese Law

The exchange between Germany and Japan in the field of law has a long-standing tradition. The Freiburg Faculty of Law has played a pioneering role in this. As early as the 1970s, Freiburg established the series “Law in Japan,” which was continued in 2015 under the new title “Law in East Asia.” The Freiburg Faculty maintains a partnership with Keio University Law School.

The Japanese legal system shares many parallels with German law, as it has been strongly influenced by it. For lawyers, engaging with Japanese law provides a valuable opportunity to expand their expertise in international business law and become more competitive in a globalized world.

Links and literature on Japanese law

Books

  1. Curtis J. Milhaupt/J. Mark Ramseyer/Mark D. West: The Japanese Legal System: Cases, Codes, and Commentary (University Casebook), 6. Aufl. 2012.
  2. Guntram Rahn – Rechtsdenken und Rechtsauffassung in Japan: Dargestellt an der Entwicklung der modernen japanischen Zivilrechtsmethodik, C.H.Beck, 1990.
  3. Hans-Peter Marutschke: Einführung in das japanische Recht, 2. Aufl., 2009.
  4. Johannes Kaspar/Oliver Schön (Hrsg.): Einführung in das japanische Recht, 2. Aufl. 2024.
  5. Masaki Abe/Luke Nottage – Japanese Law: An Overview, 2008.
  6. Moritz Bälz/Harald Baum (Hrsg.) – Handbuch Japanisches Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht, 2011.

Legislative texts & collections

  1. Japanese Law Translation
  2. Transparency of Japanese Law Project
  3. Asian Legal Information Institute
  4. Übersetzungsprojekt der Universität Nagoya (Stand April 2009, wird nicht mehr aktualisiert)
  5. Umweltrecht
  6. Verfassung (1946)
  7. Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH) 

Court decisions

  1. “Summary of Cases” und “Grand Panel Cases”
  2. Transparency of Japanese Law Project

Magazines (English/German)

  1. Zeitschrift für japanisches Recht/Journal of Japanese Law
  2. Asian Journal of Comparative Law
  3. Hitotsubashi Journal of Law and Politics
  4. Japanese Yearbook of International Law
  5. Journal of International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property of Japan (AIPPI Japan), the Japanese Group of AIPPI
  6. Kobe University Law Review
  7. Ritsumeikan Law Review
  8. Waseda Bulletin of Comparative Law

Organisations

  1. Japan Patent Office (JPO)
  2. Copyright Research and Information Center (CRIC)
  3. Japan Patent Attorneys Association (JPAA)

Further materials on Japanese law

  1. Library of Congress – Guide to Law Online: Japan
  2. World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII) – Japan

Auxiliary means

  1. Online-Wörterbuch Japanisch ↔ Deutsch
  2. Japanisch-Deutsches Kanji-Lexikon

Interview with Prof Dr Deguchi.

Prof Deguchi holds the Chair of Civil Procedure Law at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. You can find the interview here.