This volume is the first in a series of comparative studies that focuses on Korea's legal system and its political institutions under the sponsorship of the Korea Law Center at UC Berkeley Law School. Korea has experienced an astonishing pace of legal reforms within an interval of two generations. The collapse of the authoritarian regime started an irreversible process of democratization that has not yet completed its full course. The papers included in this volume cast new lights on the challenges and institutions that define the substance and the structure of current legal reforms. Although it is not the purpose of this volume to provide a comprehensive report on the current state of Korean law, the selective range of the themes is not a simple happenstance. It is representative of the current political debate which echoes the Korean society's determination to resolve the paradoxes of its legal tradition and overcome the trials of its democratic aspirations.

The Yearbook aims to promote research, studies and writings in the field of international law in Asia, as well as to provide an intellectual platform for the discussion and dissemination of Asian views and practices on contemporary international legal issues.

ÔAs dynamic as legal change has been in South Korea, it has also been understudied, at least until the arrival of this wonderful collection of essays. The authors, who are all leading figures in the field, demonstrate convincingly that Korean experience is relevant to many of the contemporary questions in law and society studies, including how to understand the dynamics of legal change, the role of law in development, the nature of transitional justice, and law in the postcolonial state. Every law and society scholar should read this book.Õ Ð Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago, US This book sets out a panoramic view of law and society studies in South Korea, considering the factors that have made this post-colonial war-torn country economically and politically successful. The contributors examine societal and historical conditions that are reflected in Ð or that were shaped by Ð the law, through a variety of lenses; including law and development, law and politics, colonialism and gender, past wrongdoings, public interest lawyering, and judicial reform. In dismantling the historical specificity of the way in which Korea studies are universally framed the contributions provide novel views, theories and information about South Korean law and society. Incorporating various perspectives and methodologies, and demonstrating a finely crafted application of general theory to specific issues, this compendium will prove insightful to law scholars and researchers looking to widen their perspective and broaden their knowledge on law and society in Korea. Law practitioners whose practice requires knowledge of the Korean legal system will also find plenty of information in this authoritative book.

Kuk Cho and his colleagues are to be heartily commended for masterfully advancing understanding of Korea s legal system through Litigation in Korea. In this impressive volume, Professor Cho and ten talented scholars from leading Korean universities explore the full spectrum of major forms of litigation in Korea, including civil, criminal, constitutional, administrative, and patent litigation. Foreign readers will be pleased to know that while the papers are well grounded doctrinally, several also deftly explore issues of law and society. Anyone interested in litigation in Korea will be very grateful for this fine volume. William Alford, Harvard Law School, US This is a path-breaking volume. Covering a wide range of topics in both public and private law litigation in Korea, the authors utilize both black letter and more theoretical approaches to provide a comprehensive overview of the law. The book will be required reading for anyone wanting to understand the Korean legal system today. Tom Ginsburg, Chicago Law School, US This informative book provides an overview of the law and judicial institutions pertaining to litigation in Korea, as well as a selection of important court decisions. Throughout Korea s democratization process, litigation has played a crucial role as an instrument to solve most of the challenging civic and social conflicts which in turn have ramifications in the nation s political, constitutional, societal and cultural domains. The expert contributors explore civil procedure, criminal procedure, constitutional adjudication, administrative litigation, and patent litigation in the Republic of Korea. As the first publication in the English language to provide a comprehensive picture of litigation in Korea, this book will appeal to scholars and post-graduate students in Asian studies, as well as lawyers dealing with Korea-related cases.

This is the first book on Korean legal history in English written by a group of leading scholars from around the world. The chapters set forth the developments of Korean law from the Chosŏn to colonial and modern periods through the examination of codified laws, legal theories and practices, and jurisprudence. The contributors’ shared premise is that the evolution of Korean law can be best understood when viewed in terms of its interactions with outside laws. Each chapter integrates literature in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Western languages into comprehensive analyses to make up-to-date research available to readers both inside and outside Korea. This volume provides a solid framework from which to approach Korean legal history in the perspective of comparative legal traditions.