Page 11 - THE SOUTH CHINA BUSINESS JOURNAL
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ult of my assisting parties in cases in military language at the University of Michigan graduate
legal proceedings, a prior interest in law was re- school, while primarily working on my law degree
kindled, particularly private international law. in the law school. Professor William Bishop, a
Finally, in September 1956, I decided to forsake distinguished scholar of international law, and
my ambitions to play professional baseball and to Professor Blume, who previously taught law in
become a lawyer. China, encouraged my studies of contemporary
Although I spoke German with fluency and poor Chinese law, stating I was the only person in the
French, I was not interested in returning to Europe, US doing this. After graduating from law school, I
because of its recent horrors from World War II. persisted in my studies and obtained the MA and
Nevertheless, as an aspiring international lawyer, Phd degrees, with two dissertations in Chinese
I needed a background in some non-American law, one of which became the lead article in the
jurisdiction outside of Europe. My interest in art, International & Comparative Law Quarterly for
included Chinese art and I thought that someday 1962, perhaps the first major article in English on
China would again be a very important country. contemporary Chinese law. In the interim I had
Therefore, concurrent with my legal studies, I began a fellowship to spend a year at Harvard where I
to study China’s history, culture, geography and audited a course given by an excellent scholar and
teacher, Henry Kissinger, who was later to play
Dr. David Buxbaum at the Great Wall in 1972 an important role in our firm’s activities in China.
Harvard arranged my first work in Asia in 1963
as an exchange faculty member of the University
of Singapore Law School, where I taught Chinese
law, among other subjects and had an opportunity
to witness the activities of Lee Kuan Yew. At that
time Singapore was part of Malaysia and Lee Kuan
Yew, a man of high intelligence and strong will,
tried to dominate the government, which led to
the country’s division.
At the same time, the Association of Southeast
Asian Nation (“ASEAN”) was established. I
undertook the first activity of ASEAN after its
formation, namely to organize and chair an
international seminar in Singapore, on the
relationship between the positive law enacted by
the government (usually a modification of foreign
law) and the indigenous customary law. Leading
judges, lawyers, prosecutors and law school
professors from many ASEAN nations participated
in this seminar, resulting in the publication of a
book on the subject, together with certain activity
of some ASEAN governments.
Subsequently, I was the senior Fulbright scholar
in Taiwan at Academia Sinica; though I spent most
of my time working with Professor Dai Yanhui, the
leading scholar of Chinese legal history, who was
introduced to me by TC Huang, an outstanding
scholar and lawyer. I particularly undertook
an analysis of a discreet part of district level
magistrates archive of the Qing Dynasty. The
work I did on the archive was presented at an
international conference in Lake Como, Italy, and
later published in Vol.30, Journal of Asian Studies
in 1971, “Some Aspects of Civil Procedure and
Practice at the Trial Level in Tanshui and Hsinchu,
from 1789 to 1895”. This article was regarded by
many as a seminal article, illustrating for the first
time the existence, importance, and method of
civil law proceedings at the district level, during
the Qing Dynasty. Previously, scholars only studied
cases at the higher level tribunals and in that
the Qing Code was devoted overwhelmingly to
administrative and criminal law, scholars assumed
that civil litigation did not exist in traditional
Chinese law.
(To be continued)
SOUTH CHINA BUSINESS JOURNAL 8
legal proceedings, a prior interest in law was re- school, while primarily working on my law degree
kindled, particularly private international law. in the law school. Professor William Bishop, a
Finally, in September 1956, I decided to forsake distinguished scholar of international law, and
my ambitions to play professional baseball and to Professor Blume, who previously taught law in
become a lawyer. China, encouraged my studies of contemporary
Although I spoke German with fluency and poor Chinese law, stating I was the only person in the
French, I was not interested in returning to Europe, US doing this. After graduating from law school, I
because of its recent horrors from World War II. persisted in my studies and obtained the MA and
Nevertheless, as an aspiring international lawyer, Phd degrees, with two dissertations in Chinese
I needed a background in some non-American law, one of which became the lead article in the
jurisdiction outside of Europe. My interest in art, International & Comparative Law Quarterly for
included Chinese art and I thought that someday 1962, perhaps the first major article in English on
China would again be a very important country. contemporary Chinese law. In the interim I had
Therefore, concurrent with my legal studies, I began a fellowship to spend a year at Harvard where I
to study China’s history, culture, geography and audited a course given by an excellent scholar and
teacher, Henry Kissinger, who was later to play
Dr. David Buxbaum at the Great Wall in 1972 an important role in our firm’s activities in China.
Harvard arranged my first work in Asia in 1963
as an exchange faculty member of the University
of Singapore Law School, where I taught Chinese
law, among other subjects and had an opportunity
to witness the activities of Lee Kuan Yew. At that
time Singapore was part of Malaysia and Lee Kuan
Yew, a man of high intelligence and strong will,
tried to dominate the government, which led to
the country’s division.
At the same time, the Association of Southeast
Asian Nation (“ASEAN”) was established. I
undertook the first activity of ASEAN after its
formation, namely to organize and chair an
international seminar in Singapore, on the
relationship between the positive law enacted by
the government (usually a modification of foreign
law) and the indigenous customary law. Leading
judges, lawyers, prosecutors and law school
professors from many ASEAN nations participated
in this seminar, resulting in the publication of a
book on the subject, together with certain activity
of some ASEAN governments.
Subsequently, I was the senior Fulbright scholar
in Taiwan at Academia Sinica; though I spent most
of my time working with Professor Dai Yanhui, the
leading scholar of Chinese legal history, who was
introduced to me by TC Huang, an outstanding
scholar and lawyer. I particularly undertook
an analysis of a discreet part of district level
magistrates archive of the Qing Dynasty. The
work I did on the archive was presented at an
international conference in Lake Como, Italy, and
later published in Vol.30, Journal of Asian Studies
in 1971, “Some Aspects of Civil Procedure and
Practice at the Trial Level in Tanshui and Hsinchu,
from 1789 to 1895”. This article was regarded by
many as a seminal article, illustrating for the first
time the existence, importance, and method of
civil law proceedings at the district level, during
the Qing Dynasty. Previously, scholars only studied
cases at the higher level tribunals and in that
the Qing Code was devoted overwhelmingly to
administrative and criminal law, scholars assumed
that civil litigation did not exist in traditional
Chinese law.
(To be continued)
SOUTH CHINA BUSINESS JOURNAL 8
