Gendai Dokufutsu Minjisekinin-ho (Diverse Aspects of Modern German and French Civil Liability Laws)

This book is a compilation of the research findings obtained through a research project titled, “Integrated Research on Modern German and French Civil Liability Laws: Toward Reorientation of Japanese Law” (FY2015 – FY2019, Grant Number 15H01924) within the framework of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), in which the editor was the principal investigator.
 
This research project has attracted up-and-coming researchers who have been conducting research on German and French civil liability laws, which have always been regarded as important points of reference in the study of civil liability law in Japan (sometimes to the point of having the notion to form their respective schools of thought). The objective of the project is to reconsider the positional relationship between German and French civil liability laws. Amid a trend toward the unification of laws across Europe, what is the current state of German and French civil liability laws? Do the two have the tendency or possibility of becoming increasingly similar? What do the remaining differences between the two stem from? An investigation from this perspective may lead to proactive re-evaluation and dissemination of the achievements of Japanese law that has achieved the fusion of German and French laws, which is difficult to achieve in Europe, in addition to reconsidering the systematic validity of Japanese law, which seems to have undergone a mosaic-like formation after picking out the superficial merits of German and French laws.
 
However, this research project is not an easy task. Each member delves into the state of German or French laws with regard to specific subjects, and other members openly comment and discuss the subjects based on their knowledge of each country’s laws. Alternatively, German or French researchers with a wealth of expertise in comparative law are invited to give a lecture in Japan, and Japanese researchers openly ask them questions from the perspective of a foreign law (and Japanese law) on which their research is centered. This research project is intended for each member to utilize in their own research the stimulus emanating from the interactions with researchers inside and outside the country.
 
The first part (discussions) of this book, which has been completed, consists of articles contributed by members of this research project, most of whom are based on reports pertaining to the workshops held within the framework of this research project. A wide range of subjects have been covered by the members of this project, including the system of civil liability, the relationship of civil liability with the surrounding systems, arguments concerning the requirements and effects of civil liability, and unjust enrichment, which is a system adjacent to civil liability. Furthermore, the second part (lectures) of this book consists of a Japanese translation of the transcripts of nine lectures by foreign researchers who were invited to Japan as part of this research project. This book contains not only individual subjects pertaining to German and French laws but also valuable discussions by frontline researchers on the role of comparative law pertaining to France and Germany and the trend of European legal unification. I hope that the discussions and lectures that were put together in this book will contribute to the advancement of the study of civil liability laws in Japan and that these research activities led by up-and-coming researchers will serve as a stimulus for legal research in Japan.

 

(Written by NAKAHARA Taro, Associate Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2020)