On the Limits of Grand Theory in Comparative Law

I am pleased that the American Association for the Comparative Study of Law has decided to focus upon the legal systems of East Asia this year, and flattered that Professor Dan Henderson, who has organized today\u27s program, has asked me to speak about the question of comparability with respect to China. In so doing, Professor Henderson is clearly heeding Deng Xiaoping\u27s message to turn to youth-albeit in this case, callow youth. Since he has been kind enough to do so, I hope that you will be equally kind in not blaming him for my remarks. This talk is dedicated to the memory of Ted L. Stein, a law school classmate and friend who was a brilliant young specialist in international law until his untimely death in an accident in June of 1985. Although only thirty-two when he died, Ted already was much accomplished professionally. I will remember and miss Ted, though, as much for his personal attributes as for his professional achievements, for he was an individual of extraordinary character. It is truly a privilege to invoke his memory in conjunction with this presentation

Ventures in the China Trade An Analysis of China's Emerging Legal Framework for the Regulation of Foreign Investment

In this Article, Messrs. Alford and Birenbaum examine laws and regulations recently promulgated by the People's Republic of China to govern the conduct of business and investment in China. After establishing the cultural, historical, bureaucratic and developmental contexts within which the authors believe these laws and regulations must be understood, they comprehensively examine and discuss the new legal pronouncements

Clean Air, Clean Processes? The Struggle over Air Pollution Law in the People\u27s Republic of China

This Article commences in Part I by introducing law-making in China before reconstructing the drafting process and attendant political battles leading up to the revision of China\u27s principal air pollution law in 1995 – which, as Ackerman and Hassler observed with reference to the United States, can be every bit as messy as the soiled air such efforts are intended to address. Part II then examines the institutional factors that ultimately are critical to an understanding of why the 1995 APPCL, as promulgated, fell well short of its original authors\u27 objectives but set in motion a process that over time has led to the realization of at least some of these legislative goals through the 2000 APPCL. The Article concludes by suggesting the implications of these institutional considerations for environmental law and legislative development more generally in the PRC

Ventures in the China Trade: An Analysis of China\u27s Emerging Legal Framework for the Regulation of Foreign Investment

In this Article, Messrs. Alford and Birenbaum examine laws and regulations recently promulgated by the People\u27s Republic of China to govern the conduct of business and investment in China. After establishing the cultural, historical, bureaucratic and developmental contexts within which the authors believe these laws and regulations must be understood, they comprehensively examine and discuss the new legal pronouncements

Qing China and the Legal Treatment of Mental Infirmity: A Preliminary Sketch in Tribute to Professor William C. Jones

This short tribute to Professor Jones aspires toward the high standard he continues to set as it reports briefly on research being conducted into the legal treatment of madness in late imperial China. As the work of Michel Foucault, among others, has demonstrated, an inquiry into definitions, legal and otherwise, of insanity and the treatment thereof is revealing not only about its immediate subject matter, but as well for what it suggests about that which a society understands to be normal behavior. Notwithstanding the brilliant work by Arthur Kleinman on mental illness in Chinese society, and the alarming reports by Robin Munro on the abusive use of psychiatric confinement in the People’s Republic of China, there is, however, surprisingly little written, whether by Chinese or Western scholars, regarding the legal construction of insanity in China