Lo, Vai Io --- "Teaching comparative law in the ‘Asian Century’" [2014] ELECD 703; in van Caenegem, William; Hiscock, Mary (eds), "The Internationalisation of Legal Education" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) 173

Book Title: The Internationalisation of Legal Education

Editor(s): van Caenegem, William; Hiscock, Mary

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783474530

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: Teaching comparative law in the ‘Asian Century’

Author(s): Lo, Vai Io

Number of pages: 8

Abstract/Description:

‘The wind is blowing to the East’, as the saying goes. With the ascendance of Asian economies and the consequential political elevation, the twenty-first century has been projected to be the ‘Asian Century’. For decades, the common law–civil law divide has occupied the central position in the study of comparative law, while the remaining legal traditions or legal systems have been either marginalised or relegated to oblivion. The ushering in of the ‘Asian Century’, however, has rendered it indispensable for the West to understand the legal systems of Asian countries, regardless of how Western developed countries view or evaluate the respective Asian legal systems. Accordingly, this chapter attempts to explore one question: how to teach and inspire students in an introductory comparative law course in light of the changing global politico-economic landscape? The answers to this question vary, depending on one’s frame of reference or perspective. To answer the question, this chapter focuses on the four major sets of pedagogical issues of any university course – course content, learning activities, assessment and outcomes. Over the years, most introductory comparative law courses offered in Australia, Europe and North America require students to read scores of scholarly works or excerpts on the theoretical propositions of, or academic debates about, comparative law.