Research Category

Sociology of law

Area of Interest

Marketization and models for the rule of law, neo-proceduralist constitutional design, fundamentals of Chinese order and the court system

Recent Thoughts

The dynamics of reciprocal actions seeking the equilibrium point in an Asian—or Chinese, in particular—"field of norms" can be considered a series of consecutive acts of collective choice in response to the combinatorial pattern of the various elements competing in the space between Sein and Sollen. I believe this produces neither Weber's "magic garden" nor something that can be contained within the paradigms of R. Unger's "customary law vs. bureaucratic law" construct. It could be said that behind such a pluralistic equilibrium, which differs from a pandekten-style unified legal system, one can briefly glimpse an institutional design resembling the complex systems of order created by social norms. My current research project is to illuminate these mechanisms and to discover methods that will make it possible to break away from the difficult situation of "double contingency."

Publications

•  A Hypermodern Law (Kyoto: Minerva Press, 1999)
•  Constructing Rule of Law (Beijing: China University of Law and Political Sciences Press, 1999)
•  Legal Change in Modern China (Tokyo: Japan Review Press, 2001)
•  New Views on Constitutionalism (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2002, enlarged edition, 2005)
•  The Composition of Chinese Judicial System (Tokyo: Yuhikaku Press, 2004)
•  The Significance of Legal Procedures (Beijing: China Legal Publishing House, 2004)
•  Orbit of Thinking Justice (Beijing: Law Press, 2007)
•  At Critical Point of Order and Chaos (Beijing: Law Press, 2008)
• Switching the Institutions (Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press, 2009)

Recent/Ongoing Works

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