New Book on Foreign Law in Asia

Hart Publishing has just released an important new book on foreign law in Asia, edited by Kazuaki Nishioka.

As regular TLB readers might recognize, I am very interested in how courts grapple with the law of foreign jurisdictions. (New paper coming soon!) In the United States, federal courts apply Federal Rule 44.1, under which foreign law is treated as an issue of law rather than an issue of fact, though it may be ascertained by courts consulting any relevant material or source. In the states, there is a mix of practices, with roughly half the states following the federal model.

This new volume addresses the treatment of foreign law in 15 Asian jurisdictions: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India. The volume addresses core questions such as whether the jurisdiction treats foreign law as an issue of law or fact, and how might foreign law be presented and adjudicated. Impressively, the volume also considers foreign law in other adjudicative settings, such as administrative adjudication.

This book is the third in a larger series on private international law in Asia. The first volume in that series addressed the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. The second addressed jurisdiction in international cases. All three would be worthy investments for scholars and practitioners of transnational litigation.