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Yun-chien Chang: Comparative Law: Reflection and Reconstruction of Methodology & Legal Origins and Colonial History: An Empirical Big Data Study on the Similarity of Legal Content
Yun-chien Chang: Comparative Law: Reflection and Reconstruction of Methodology & Legal Origins and Colonial History: An Empirical Big Data Study on the Similarity of Legal Content
Date：2024-01-02
Yun-chien Chang: Comparative Law: Reflection and Reconstruction of Methodology
On December 10, 2023， Professor Yun-chien Chang , Distinguished Global Faculty of PKU Law and professor of law from Cornell University , sparked a stimulating debate with his lecture "Comparative Law: Reflection and Reconstruction of Methodology." Challenging the traditional assumption of the comparative method as a solely objective tool, Professor Chang argued that blind comparison can sometimes be misleading. Instead, he proposed a framework anchored in "value argumentation," where researchers actively engage with the underlying goals and contexts of different legal systems. This, he asserted, leads to a deeper understanding of "double causation," the intricate web of mutual influence between legal systems.
Professor Chang's focus isn't just on analyzing foreign practices; he advocates for using their outcomes to enrich domestic legal theory. By critically examining the effectiveness of different approaches, China as all nations can contribute to the development of "superior theoretical results" with global relevance.
Professor Chang's compelling lecture left the audience with a fresh perspective on comparative law, urging them to move beyond mere comparison and delve into the nuanced tapestry of legal interpretation and mutual influence. This shift promises to reshape the field, fostering a more critical and impactful approach to comparative legal studies.
Yun-chien Chang: Legal Origins and Colonial History: An Empirical Big Data Study on the Similarity of Legal Content
On December 13, Professor Yun-chien Chang shattered a legal paradigm with his captivating lecture, "Legal Origins and Colonial History: An Empirical Big Data Study on the Similarity of Legal Content." Harnessing a mountain of data from diverse nations, Professor Chang revealed a powerful truth: a nation's contemporary legal framework often bears the intricate fingerprint of its colonial past. This groundbreaking finding throws a dramatic curveball at the traditional emphasis on legal origins as the sole predictor of legal systems.
But Professor Chang wasn't content with merely unveiling this correlation. He embarked on a meticulous forensic examination of the "Law and Finance" study series, the very work that championed legal origins' primacy. With laser-sharp focus, he dissected its empirical foundation and normative claims, meticulously delving into the study's construction, data analysis, and the hidden mechanisms at play.
But Professor Chang wasn't content with merely unveiling this correlation. He embarked on a meticulous forensic examination of the "Law and Finance" study series, the very work that championed legal origins' primacy. With laser-sharp focus, he dissected its empirical foundation and normative claims, meticulously delving into the study's construction, data analysis, and the hidden mechanisms at play.
• Speaker Profile:
Prof. Yun-chien Chang is Jack G. Clarke Professor in East Asian Law at Cornell Law School and also directs the Clarke Program in East Asian Law & Culture. He has served a visiting professor at New York University, the University of Chicago, St. Gallen University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Haifa University, and Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics. He has also conducted research at Free University of Berlin, University of Paris II, and University of Tokyo. Prof. Chang is a co-editor of Journal of Empirical Legal Studies and an Associate Reporter on American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law Fourth, Property. Prof. Chang is President of Asian Law and Economics Association and a director of the Society for Empirical Legal Studies.
His current academic interests focus on economic, empirical and comparative analysis of private law (particularly property law), as well as empirical studies of the judicial system. Prof. Chang has authored and co-authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. His English articles have appeared in leading journals around the world, such as Journal of Legal Studies; Journal of Legal Analysis; Journal of Law and Economics; American Law and Economics Review; Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization; Journal of Empirical Legal Studies; International Review of Law and Economics; European Journal of Law and Economics; I˙Con; the University of Chicago Law Review; Southern California Law Review; Notre Dame Law Review; Iowa Law Review and Supreme Court Economic Review, among others.
His monograph Private Property and Takings Compensation: Theoretical Framework and Empirical Analysis (Edward Elgar, 2013) was a winner of the Scholarly Monograph Award in the Humanities and Social Sciences. His second monograph Property Law: Comparative, Empirical, and Economic Analyses was published in June 2023 and will be widely reviewed. Prof. Chang (co-)edited Empirical Legal Analysis: Assessing the Performance of Legal Institutions (Routledge, 2014), Law and Economics of Possession (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Selection and Decision in Judicial Process Around the World: Empirical Inquires (Cambridge University Press, 2020), etc.
He authored several books in Chinese: Economic Analysis of Law: A Methodological Primer (Peking University Press, 2023), Compensation for Physical and Regulatory Takings of Land: Theory and Practice (Angle, 2013; 2nd edition, 2020), Economic Analysis of Property Law (Peking University Press, 2019), Empirical Legal Studies: Principles, Methods, and Applications (New Sharing, 2019; 2nd edition, 2022), Interpreting Private Law: A Social Scientific Approach (New Sharing, 2020), etc. He also (co-)edited The Empirical Legal Studies Reader I: Domestic Perspectives (The Law Press, 2020), The Empirical Legal Studies Reader II: International Perspectives (Contemporary China Publishing House, 2024 forthcoming), to name a few.
Prof. Chang sits on the editorial board of several leading journals, including Law and Social Inquiry (2024–2026), Journal of Law and Empirical Analysis (2024–), European Journal of Law and Economics (2019–), among others.
Prof. Chang’s academic achievements have won him the 2019 ALSA Distinguished Article Award, the Best Poster Prize at 2011 CELS, several research grants, among others.
Prof. Chang received his J.S.D. and LL.M. degrees from New York University School of Law, where he was also a Lederman/Milbank Law and Economics Fellow and a Research Associate at the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, NYU.
To learn more about the event, please check out:
https://www.law.pku.edu.cn/xwzx/xwdt/155495.htm
https://www.law.pku.edu.cn/xwzx/xwdt/155495.htm