The Same Model, Different Approaches: A Comparative Study on Legal Education Reforms in East Asia

Abstract

There are several common features of legal culture, legal profession, and legal education in East Asia, especially among China, Japan and South Korea. All three countries had been affected by traditional Chinese Confucius legal culture before the western powers invaded into East Asia in the mid-19 century. There were no formal legal education systems and no legal profession in the ancient period in those countries. Administrative officials who were selected by civil service examination filled the roles of judges and prosecutors, and no formal legal service industry existed. With the invasion of western forces in order to withdraw adjudication privileges for foreign citizens from those western countries, the governments of countries like China and Japan had to initiate legal reforms to meet the requirements demanded by the invading western countries. In the process of legal reforms since the 1860s, continental law, rather than common law, impacted the formation of modern Japanese law, Chinese law, and Korean Law.