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Growing up in China while educated in Japan and the US, the author has in the past few decades both witnessed and actively participated in the historical process of legal transformations in contemporary China. Through a series of academic contributions, as well as meetings, activities and memberships with policymakers and practitioners, the author has spared no effort in applying his theoretical scholarship to real, concrete practices. He has made significant contributions to the building of a rule-of-law system in China, with great social influences. The publishing of this book is to share with English-speaking readers his insights, experiences, and practices related to the institutional undertaking of building the rule of law in China. It offers a legal perspective on some of the cutting-edge issues in our society at large (e.g. risk and uncertainty, AI network, the COVID-19 pandemic, and big data).
List of contents
Introduction. The structure of the book; 1. The conception of law in traditional China; 2. The essence of modern rule of law; 3. The Rule of Law: contemporary challenges and paradigmatic innovation; 4. A Rule-of-Law Democracy (Rechtsdemokratie): social diversification and reconstructing the system of authority; 5. Judicial reform in China: the status quo and future directions; 6. Reconstructing legal ideology; Appendix 1. Themed discussions of this book; Appendix 2. An interpretation of and reflection on china's cultural traditions; Appendix 3. China: the way to democracy via Rule of Law; Postscript; References; Index.
About the author
Weidong Ji was Dean and KoGuan Chair Professor of Law at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China from 2008-2018. Since 2018, he is University Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at SJTU and the President of the China Institute for Socio-Legal Studies. He has studied legal culture, law and social change in Asia, focusing on constitutional law, judicial reform as well as the legal profession. He has published over 100 academic articles and nearly 20 authored and edited books. He has received various awards, such as the First Prize of the Japan Association of Sociology of Law for Excellent Book (2001), the Top Ten Legal Books Which Influenced China During 1978-2014 (2014), and the Prize of an Excellent Book in the Humanities and Social Sciences by the Ministry of Education of China (2015). He is also the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Journal of Law and Society.
Summary
Offers a legal perspective on cutting-edge issues in our society at large (e.g. risk and uncertainty, AI network, the COVID-19 pandemic, and big data). Although it starts from discussion of the legal development in China, it ends with a more universalistic concern about the transformation of the global legal landscape.
Foreword
Explores how the law should be reformed in China to make it a constitutionalist and rule of law state.
