Skip to Main Content

Japanese Legal Research: Books

This guide is intended to assist researchers in locating primary and secondary sources of law from Japan.

Online Catalogs

Books Available @ FSU

Japanese law

Call Number: KNX68.O32 2009
ISBN: 0199232180
Publication: Oxford University Press, 2009

Available in the FSU Law Research Center General Collection.

This book presents the only English language, up-to-date, and comprehensive reference to Japanese law. It covers the basis of the Japanese legal system, the civil code, business related laws and other laws including criminal law and procedure, and foreign relations law. This breadth of coverage makes the book an essential reference work for all who have an interest in Japanese law. 

 

Law in Japan: a turning point

Call Number: KNX120.L39 2007
ISBN: 0295987316
Publication:  University of Washington Press, 2007

Available in the FSU Law Research Center General Collection.

This book explores major developments in Japanese law over the latter half of the twentieth century and looks ahead to the future. Topics addressed include the legal system (with chapters on legal history, the legal profession, the judiciary, the legislative and political process, and legal education); the individual and the state (with chapters on constitutional law, administrative law, criminal justice, environmental law, and health law); and the economy (with chapters on corporate law, contracts, labor and employment law, antimonopoly law, intellectual property, taxation, and insolvency).

Justice and civil procedure in Japan

Call Number: KNX1710.G663 2004
ISBN: 0379215217
Publication: Oceana Publications, 2004

Available in the FSU Law Research Center General Collection.

Obtaining justice through Japan's civil justice system requires a nuanced understanding of Japanese legal culture, particularly the fundamental differences between the notion of individual rights that underlies American law and the adversarial system, and the deeply ingrained sense of 'group rights' and conciliation that is becoming more a part of the way law in Japan is actually practiced.

Also offers a checklist of differing societal and cultural approaches of the American and Japanese systems that have major impact on current legal practices, as well as in-depth analysis of: the philosophical bent of the supreme court; how the judicial system has responded to the demands of the urban population; how new reforms in lawyer training are expected to improve the civil justice system ; and contemporary avenues and uses of alternative dispute resolution.

Books Available through Interlibrary Loan

Comparative law: law and the process of law in Japan

Call Number: KNX68.P67 2015
ISBN: 1594608504 
Publication: Carolina Academic Press, 2015

Available through ILL and UBorrow.

Relying on translated cases, statutes, and the Constitution, Comparative Law puts Japanese law in legal, historical, and cultural context with a comprehensive analysis of Japanese law and legal process that traces the question of the role of law through various areas, including constitutional law, criminal law, civil litigation, antitrust, and intellectual property law.

Second-best justice: the virtues of Japanese private law

Call Number: KNX500.R36 2015
ISBN: 022628199X
Publication: The University of Chicago Press, 2015

Available through ILL and UBorrow

It's long been known that Japanese file fewer lawsuits per capita than Americans do. Using evidence from tort claims across many domains, Ramseyer argues that Japan's court system is designed not to find perfect justice, but to "make do"--to adopt strategies that are mostly right and that thereby resolve disputes quickly and economically.

The changing role of law in Japan : empirical studies in culture, society and policy making

Call Number: KNX74.C43 2014
ISBN: 1783475641
Publication: Edward Elgar, 2014

Available through ILL and UBorrow

The Changing Role of Law in Japan offers a comparative perspective on the changing role of law in East Asia, discussing issues such as society, cultural values, access to the legal system and judicial reform. This book places Japan in the wider context, juxtaposed with Europe, rather than the US. It also addresses many current issues that illustrate important changes in Japanese society and its political and legal systems.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.