Translation, Codification, and Transplantation of Foreign Laws in Taiwan

Taiwan is an excellent example for rethinking the significance of translation and codification of law in the process of transplantation of modern law in East Asian countries. Regardless of its strangeness to the general public, the translation of Western laws was always codified in Meiji Japan for the purpose of “receiving” modern law. Those Westernized Japanese legal codes also took effect in Taiwan during the later period of Japanese colonial rule, although Japanese colonialists initially applied Taiwanese customary law, created by Western legal terminology, to the Taiwanese to decrease their resistance to the new regime. Using foreign Japanese language to learn Western institutions in legal codes, the Taiwanese could only transplant modern law to a certain extent. This situation continued even after the Chinese Nationalist Party brought their Westernized legal codes to Taiwan in 1945. Since the 1970s, however, those Taiwanese legal scholars who were educated in postwar Europe, Japan, and the United States have actively translated contemporary Western laws to suit the needs of Taiwanese society. Accompanying the democratization of Taiwan in the 1990s, many local legal practices were incorporated in the legal codes originally enacted for Republican China. As Taiwan’s case shows, the spirit of modern law is transplanted to an East Asian country after its legal codes have been localized

The Legal Development of Taiwan in the 20th Century: Toward a Liberal and Democratic Country

This article was originally presented as The Development of Taiwan\u27s Legal Systems: Towards a Western-style Law, CONFERENCE ON TAIWAN IN THE 20TH CENTURY: A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW, in THE CHINA QUARTERLY AND THE GOVERNMENT INFORMATION OFFICE, R.O.C., (Taipei, Dec. 14-15, 1999). When I wrote that piece, no one could imagine that the Council of Grand Justices would find the newly-amended constitutional provisions unconstitutional, that the National Assembly would be virtually abolished, and that the opposition party would win the presidential election for the first time in Taiwan\u27s history. This revised version of course has taken these crucial events into account. Chinese and Japanese names in this article are given in the Chinese and Japanese name order, with the family name first. The names of the Chinese and Japanese authors who have published in English are given as they are in their publications. I would like to thank Laura A. Cecere and Niclas Ericsson for revising the English in the manuscript and giving valuable comments during my tenure as a visiting scholar in the East Asian Legal Studies Program of Harvard Law School. I remain responsible for any opinions or errors herein. A Chinese version of this article will be separately published in Taiwan

Die Rezeption des kontinentaleuropäischen Zivilrechts in Taiwan und die Eigenständigkeit des taiwanischen Zivilrechts

Taiwan became a colony of Japan in 1895, and thus followed Japan in transplanting Continental European civil law. Early in the period of Japanese rule, Taiwanese civil matters were largely decided according to customs, which were informed by concepts and terminology of Continental European civil law. However, the ownership, pledge and mortgage of Continental European law had been partly introduced to Taiwan. Later in the period of Japanese rule, property law in the Japanese Civil Code, receiving Continental European law, took effect in Taiwan. In contrast, the status law relating to the Taiwanese was still applied to customary law and was shaped by terminology of Continental European civil law. Taiwan became a province of China during the period of four years after World War II, and it began to implement the civil law of China in the republican era. As a result, the Taiwanese status law was also modeled on Continental European law. Taiwan has been a de facto state since 1949, the year China began to be ruled by the communist party. Taiwan continues to enforce the civil law, which originated in Republican China, with its roots in Continental European law, and adds many elements from American law in the special civil law due to close political and economic ties with the United States. However, the theory and practice of civil law in Taiwan has been dominated by the jurisprudence and laws of Continental Europe, especially Germany. In post-war Taiwan, the majority of the first-generation legal scholars came from Republican China and were deeply influenced by Continental European law; the minority had been trained in pre-war Japanese law, which received Continental European law as well. Many Taiwanese legal scholars, from the second generation to today, directly borrowed from Germany or learned from Japan to introduce the civil law and its theories in post-war Europe to Taiwan. After the democratization of Taiwan in the 1990s, people in Taiwan have reformed their legal system for their own needs. With legal knowledge incorporating the ideas of Continental European civil law, a localized civil law has been shaped by the decisions of Taiwanese courts, the struggle of social movements in Taiwan and the reaction of Taiwan’s legislature. This law is unique among countries in East Asia because it is based on the social needs of Taiwan

Nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia in Taiwan: Mortality analyses and the impact of vancomycin, MIC = 2 mg/L, by the broth microdilution method

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies regarding the prognosis of patients infected with MRSA isolates characterized by a high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for vancomycin have generally used a commercial Etest. Little research has been conducted on determining the vancomycin susceptibility of MRSA using a reference microdilution. Additionally, there is discordance between the MIC result from an Etest and the value determined using the reference microdilution method.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using a reference microdilution method, we determined the MIC of vancomycin for isolates from 123 consecutive patients with nosocomial MRSA bacteremia. The clinical features and outcome for these patients were recorded and the MRSA isolates were genotyped.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the 123 non-duplicated isolates, 21.1% had a MIC = 2 mg/L, 76.4% had a MIC = 1 mg/L and 2.4% had MIC = 0.5 mg/L. Patients with MRSA bacteremia in the ICU or those who had been hospitalized for a long time were more likely to be infected with strains of high vancomycin MIC MRSA (MIC = 2 mg/L; <it>p </it>< 0.05). Cox regression analysis demonstrated that the high MIC group had a significantly higher 30-day mortality than the low MIC group (HR: 2.39; 95% CI: 1.20-4.79; <it>p </it>= 0.014). Multivariate analyses indicated that the presence of high MIC isolates, pneumonia, post-cardiothoracic surgery and a high Charlson comorbidity index were all independent predictors of a 30-day mortality. Genotyping of these high vancomycin MIC isolates demonstrated that SCC<it>mec </it>III, <it>spa </it>type037, was the predominant strain (> 80%). The rates of resistance to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin, levofloxacin, rifampin and tetracycline were also higher in the high MIC group than in the isolates belonging to low MIC group (<it>p </it>< 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In a high vancomycin MIC group in Taiwan, SCC<it>mec </it>III, <it>spa </it>type t037, was the predominant strain of MRSA identified. Patients with MRSA bacteremia in the ICU or who had prolonged hospitalization were more likely to be infected with <it>S. aureus </it>strains with high vancomycin MICs. The mortality rate was higher among patients infected with these strains compared to patients infected with low MIC strains.</p

Effectiveness and Limitations of Hand Hygiene Promotion on Decreasing Healthcare–Associated Infections

BACKGROUND: Limited data describe the sustained impact of hand hygiene programs (HHPs) implemented in teaching hospitals, where the burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is high. We use a quasi-experimental, before and after, study design with prospective hospital-wide surveillance of HAIs to assess the cost effectiveness of HHPs. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A 4-year hospital-wide HHP, with particular emphasis on using an alcohol-based hand rub, was implemented in April 2004 at a 2,200-bed teaching hospital in Taiwan. Compliance was measured by direct observation and the use of hand rub products. Poisson regression analyses were employed to evaluate the densities and trends of HAIs during the preintervention (January 1999 to March 2004) and intervention (April 2004 to December 2007) periods. The economic impact was estimated based on a case-control study in Taiwan. We observed 8,420 opportunities for hand hygiene during the study period. Compliance improved from 43.3% in April 2004 to 95.6% in 2007 (p<.001), and was closely correlated with increased consumption of the alcohol-based hand rub (r = 0.9399). The disease severity score (Charlson comorbidity index) increased (p = .002) during the intervention period. Nevertheless, we observed an 8.9% decrease in HAIs and a decline in the occurrence of bloodstream, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, and intensive care unit infections. The intervention had no discernable impact on HAI rates in the hematology/oncology wards. The net benefit of the HHP was US$5,289,364, and the benefit-cost ratio was 23.7 with a 3% discount rate. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a HHP reduces preventable HAIs and is cost effective

ヒガシアジア ニ オケル ホウガク ノ デンパ ケイロ ３ カン ニホン チュウゴク ノ ホウガク ツウロン カラ タイワン ノ ホウガク ショロン ヘ

翻訳坂口 一成／

ヒガシアジア ニ オケル ホウガク ノ デンパ ケイロ ２ ニホン チュウゴク ノ ホウガク ツウロン カラ タイワン ノ ホウガク ショロン ヘ

翻訳坂口 一成／

ヒガシアジア ニ オケル ホウガク ノ デンパ ケイロ １ ニホン チュウゴク ノ ホウガク ツウロン カラ タイワン ノ ホウガク ショロン ヘ

翻訳坂口 一成／

Transition Matrix Monte Carlo Reweighting and Dynamics

We study an induced dynamics in the space of energy of single-spin-flip Monte Carlo algorithm. The method gives an efficient reweighting technique. This dynamics is shown to have relaxation times proportional to the specific heat. Thus, it is plausible for a logarithmic factor in the correlation time of the standard 2D Ising local dynamics.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, 3 figure