The question whether a new space of commercial regulation is emerging in Asia is generally addressed through the traditional notion of legal order or legal system. Thus, Chinese Law or Japanese Law on Arbitration, for example, is examined by underlining the specificities of such domestic law. Would it be possible to question the emergence of an Asian space of business law, not only from the exclusive standpoint of legal norms but from the standpoint of the actors themselves and their legal practices?

Presentation

The first day of this one day and a half seminar will be devoted to the close examination of two significant issues of positive law. The afternoon of the second day will give the participants the opportunity to question these legal practices from a theoretical standpoint.

During the first day of the seminar (June 7), the participants will focus on positive law and examine: the elaboration of the so-called Principles of Asian Contract Law, PACL (Panel 1); the practice of international commercial arbitration in Asia (Panel 2). Naoki KANAYAMA will talk about the efforts of a multi-national group of Asian contracts scholars to develop a private convention of contract law principles, drawing from multiple national traditions. In the same way, Yoshihisa HAYAKAWA will describe the roles of choice and mixing in developing the infrastructure for private international commercial arbitration in Asia. Involving all te participants, the following discussion will focus on three specific set of questions:

• How do the concerned actors (i.e. those involved in the drafting of principles such as PACL or in international commercial arbitration) choose the law? What is their practice regarding the choice of the law?

• What are the chosen norms? And is it relevant to consider the choice of the law in terms of normative creation?

• What are the discourses of the concerned actors regarding both their own practice of choice and the chosen norms?

During the second day of the seminar (June 8), the participants will examine the cases dealt with the first day and their common features from a theoretical point of view. Four participants will address from various disciplinary perspectives and approaches the demarcation of emerging and evolving spaces as well as the construction of these spaces as artifacts for human activity. Confronted with the intricacies of a changing regulatory architecture consisting of both public and private, “hybrid” norm creation systems which are no longer exclusively located on either on a domestic or international level, they will also – as well as the other participants – engage in methodological introspection.

Participants (alphabetical order)

• Thomas Brisson (Associate Professor, Paris VIII University)
• Laurent Dubois (Registered Foreign Lawyer, Tokyo)
• Isabelle Giraudou (Researcher, French Research Institute on Japan, Maison franco-japonaise)
• Kō Hasegawa (Professor, Hokkaido University)
• Yoshihisa Hayakawa (Professor, Rikkyo University)
• Béatrice Jaluzot (Associate Professor, IEP, Lyon III University)
• Naoki Kanayama (Professor, Keio University)
• Sōichirō Kozuka (Professor, Gakushūin University)
• Étienne Laumonier (Lawyer, Partner, Ho Chi Minh City)
• Gilles Lhuilier (Professor, South Brittany University, Research Associate at CEDE-ESSEC Business School)
• Andrew Sutter (Registered Foreign Lawyer; Specially Appointed Professor, Rikkyo University)
• Hiromi Ueda (Professor, Asia University)
• Dai Yokomizo (Professor, Nagoya University)
• Other participants to be confirmed

Program

Thursday (June 7) / 9.30 – 17.30
PACL and International Commercial Arbitration in Asia – A Close Examination of Two Distinctive Objects of Research

Morning session / 9.30 – 12.30

9.00 – 9.30 Welcoming of the participants

9.30 – 9.45 Opening by the co-organizers

• Isabelle Giraudou, Researcher, Institut français de recherche sur le Japon Maison franco-japonaise

• Gilles Lhuilier, Professor, South Brittany University, Research Associate at CEDE-ESSEC Business School

First panel – The principles of asian contract law (PACL)

9.45 – 10.30 / Presentation

• Naoki Kanayama, Professor, Keio University, “Principles of Asian Contract Law”

10.30 – 12.30 / Discussion

10.30 – 11.05 / How do the concerned actors choose the law?

• Isabelle Giraudou – Introductory remarks

Participants – Comments, Questions and Answers

1. From comparative law scholars
2. From international law scholars
3. From specialists of Japanese (Commercial) Law
4. From practicing lawyers

Coffee Break (15 minutes)

11.20 – 12.00 / What are the chosen norms?

Isabelle Giraudou – Introductory remarks

Participants – Comments, Questions and Answers

1. From specialists of Japanese (Commercial) Law
2. From international law scholars
3. From comparative law scholars
4. From practicing lawyers

12.00 – 12.30 / What are the Choice Makers’ Discourses?

• Isabelle Giraudou – Introductory remarks

Participants – Comments, Questions and Answers

• From international law scholars
• From comparative law scholars
• From specialists of Japanese (Commercial) Law
• From practicing lawyers
• From sociologists

Lunch 12.30 – 14.00

Afternoon session / 14.00 – 17.30

Second Panel - International commercial arbitration in Asia

14.00 – 15.00 / Presentation 

• Yoshihisa Hayakawa, Professor, Rikkyo University, “International Commercial Arbitration and Normative Space”

15.00 – 17.30 / Discussion

15.00 – 15.30 / How do the concerned actors choose the law?

• Gilles Lhuilier – Introductory remarks

Participants – Comments, Questions and Answers

1. From international law scholars
2. From specialists of Japanese (Commercial) Law
3. From comparative law scholars
   
4. From practicing lawyers

Coffee Break (15 minutes)

15.45 – 16.30 / What are the chosen norms?

• Gilles Lhuilier – Introductory remarks

Participants – Comments, Questions and Answers

1. From international law scholars
2. From specialists of Japanese (Commercial) Law
3. From comparative law scholars
4. From practicing lawyers

16.30 – 17.20 / What are the Choice Makers’ Discourses?

• Gilles Lhuilier – Introductory remarks

Participants – Comments, Questions and Answers

1. From international law scholars
2. From specialists of Japanese (Commercial) Law
3. From comparative law scholars
4. From practicing lawyers
5. From sociologists

17.20 – 17.30 / Final remarks

• Gilles Lhuilier, Isabelle Giraudou

Friday (June 8) / 14.00 – 18.00
The Similarity between Two International Practices On Normative Spaces

14.00 – 14.10 Introductory Remarks

• Isabelle Giraudou

14.10 – 14.40 First intervention

• Andrew Sutter, Registered Foreign Lawyer, Specially Appointed Professor, Rikkyo University:  “Of Bentō and Bagels: Globalization and New Normative Spaces”

Discussion (20 minutes)

15.00 – 15.30 Second intervention

• Gilles Lhuilier, Professor, South Brittany University, Research Associate at CEDE-ESSEC Business School: “The Concept of ‘Normative Space’ (From International Law to Philosophy of the Mind and Japanese Cooking”

Discussion (20 minutes)

Coffee Break (15 minutes)

16.05 – 16.35  Third intervention

• Kō Hasegawa, Professor, Hokkaido University:  “Observations on the Making of Normative Spaces from the Viewpoint of Legal Philosophy"

Discussion (20 minutes)

16.55 – 17.25 Fourth intervention

• Thomas Brisson, Assistant Professor, Paris VIII University:  “Observations on the Making of Normative Spaces from the Viewpoint of Historical Sociology”

Discussion (20 minutes)

17.20 – 17.30 / Remarks on Future Perspectives

• Gilles Lhuilier, Isabelle Giraudou

Venue : Maison franco-japonaise

Bureau Français 6th Floor (Room 601)
3-9-25 Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo
Tel +81-3-5421-7642/7641
Fax +81-3-5421-7652
Access:  http://www.mfj.gr.jp/acces/

Date : June 7-8, 2012

• Thursday 7th, from 9.30 am to 6.00 pm
• Friday 8th, from 2.00 am to 6.00 pm

Co-organized by:

• Institut français de recherche à l’étranger, UMIFRE 19 (CNRS – Ministère français des Affaires étrangères et européennes)
• Maison des Sciences de l’Homme en Bretagne (MSHB)

With the collaboration of:

• GLSN Global Legal Studies Network / Réseau Mondialisation du droit -(Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Paris)