Topics in Asian Law

Kerstin Steiner (Graduate School of Law)

Course Description
   This is an introductory course, which aims to give the student a general understanding of Asian legal studies.
   It will provide the opportunity to study the diversity of legal traditions, legal systems, laws and institutions in Asia and their contextualization in either certain areas of law or a specific country context.
   The purpose of the course is therefore three-fold. First, it will provide a survey of substantive laws in Asia either by country or covering a specific topic. The substantive laws cover a wide range of topics - including constitutional law: administrative law; criminal law; civil law; economic, social and religious law; and human rights law. Secondly, it will also consider law in its broader social, political, cultural and economic context and implications. Although no prior knowledge of Asia is required, students will acquire a broad understanding of aspects of modern Asian society, politics, economics and history as the course progresses. Finally, these studies will be framed in the broader discussion of comparative law and methodology which precede the country and topic specific classes. The discussion there will examine the rationale for looking to the laws of other countries and potential hazards that one can encounter in this exercise.

Course Objective
   On completion of this unit, students should be able to:
   •explain and critique the notion of legal traditions in regards to comparative studies in Asia;
   •depict the history and development of law and jurisprudence in Asia;
   •clarify the role of law and the nature of law in Asia;
   •elucidate the nexus between law, society, politics, culture and economics; and
   •describe and analyse aspects of substantive laws - including constitutional law: administrative law; criminal law; civil law; ecconomic, social and religious law; and human rights law - in the selected countries.

Topic Overview
   Part 1: Introductions and Foundations
   Week 1: Introduction: Comparative Legal Studies
   Week 2: Law and Culture in Context: Issues in Asian Legal Studies
   Part 2: Law and Society in Southeast Asia: Selective Country Studies
   Week 3, 4 and 5: Indonesia
   •Indonesia's Legal History: The Dutch Colonial Legacy
   •Indonesia's Institutional Framework: Constitution, Parliament and the Courts
   •Law and Politics in Indonesia
   •Drugs and Law: Foreigners in the Criminal Legal System
   Week 6, 7 and 8: Singapore
   •Singapore's Legal History: The Anglo Colonial Legacy
   •Singapore's Legal Framework: Constitution, Parliament and the Courts
   •Law and Politics in Singapore
   •Social Engineering through Law in Singapore: Case Study of Islam, Law and the State
   Week 9, 10 and 11: Malaysia
   •Malaysia's Legal History: The Anglo Colonial Legacy
   •Malaysia's Institutional Framework: Constitution, Parliament and the Courts
   •Law and Politics in Malaysia
   •Islam, Law and Human Rights: Apostasy Cases in Malaysia
   Part 3: Law and Economics in Asia: Selective Issues
   Week 12: The International and Regional Trade Regime
   Week 13: Nexus between Law, Culture, Economics and Politics
   Week 14: Issues for Economic Reform
   Week 15: Revision

Reading Material
   There is no prescribed text for this course. A study guide detailing book extracts, journal articles and other supplementary materials will be provided to students prior to class. The assigned reading provides students with the opportunity to obtain accurate information and develop an understanding of the main topics covered in the course.
   In order to obtain a broad overview, students may find the following books useful:
  
   •Kanishka Jayasuriya, Law, Capitalism & Power in Asia: The Rule of Law & Legal Institutions, Routledge, London & New York, 1999
   •Pip Nicholson and Sarah Biddulph (eds), Examining Practice, Interrogating Theory: Comparative Legal Studies in Asia, Brill, Leiden, 2008
   •Poh-Ling Tan, Asian Legal Systems, Butterworths, Sydney, 1997
   •Veronica Taylor, Asian Laws Through Australian Eyes, LBC, Sydney, 1997
  
   In addition, students are expected to go beyond the prescribed material for the research questions. They will be pointed at various online resources including Asian Law Online which is a searchable database of world English language holdings on Asian legal systems. It is available on the Asian Law Centre homepage (http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/alc) and there is no fee for using it. It is a more useful resource than any other bibliography or lists of references on Asian law. This database has been prepared specifically for research use by students of Asian legal subjects.

Assessment
   If possible, I would like to use different forms of assessment providing students with different modes of assessment to cater for the different styles of learners enabling a more accurate evaluation of the students' knowledge and skills and thus making it more learner-centred. The different assessments are distributed throughout the course enabling me to monitor the progress of each individual student and if need be, to suggest additional support and assistance to individual students.
   For this course, I suggest a
   •Class participation and presentation;
   •Mid-Term assessment; and
   •End of term assignment.