Crisis or Turning Point: Continuity and Rupture of the Taiwanese Legal System and Social Changes

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

This panel investigates the continuity and transformation of the legal system in Taiwan. From 1895 to present, the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China have respectively transplanted different modern legal systems to Taiwan. Throughout history, the laws of different periods in Taiwan have had both differences and similarities as well. In addition, while these laws have influenced Taiwanese society, they were also shaped by the local people and events in Taiwan. Since martial law ended in the 1990s, Taiwan has gone through a series of dramatic changes, one of which is the legal transformation of the Republic of China legal system from the authoritarian rule to modern democracy.
This panel adopts the approach of law and society to analyze how modern laws have been introduced to Taiwan, and how they have been adapted to Taiwan through their interaction with Taiwanese society. This panel includes a variety of legal fields to comprehensively discuss the continuing and changing laws in Taiwan, covering five topics: (1) a historical study on the continuity and rupture of Taiwanese electoral systems and campaign finance law from 1949 to present, (2) an observation on protest policing in Taiwan's Democratic transition, (3) a study on the offense of obstructing an officer in their discharge of duties, (4) a study on the development and challenges of modern evidence law, and (5) chronological research on natural disaster management in Taiwan.

Area of Study

• Northeast Asia

Session Organizer

• Po Liang Chen, School of Law, University of Washington

Chair

• Po Liang Chen, School of Law, University of Washington

Individual Presentations

• Money in Taiwanese Politics: A Historical Study on the Continuity and Rupture of Taiwanese Electoral Systems and Campaign Finance Law (from 1949 to Present) - Po Liang Chen, School of Law, University of Washington

• The Development of the Legal System of Natural Disaster Management in Taiwan - Yung-hua Kuo, School of Law, University of Washington

• When Law Encounters with Science: The Development and Challenge of Modern Law of Evidence in Taiwan - Cheng-Yu Lin, Kyoto University

• Law, Social Movement, and Police: Protest Policing in Taiwan's Democratic transition - Jen-Shuo Hsu, Hokkaido University, Graduate School of Law

• Defending a State? A Study on the Offense of an Officer in Discharge of Duties in Taiwan - Wan-Shan Lin, Kyoto University