Community and the Law

Takao Tanase, Professor of Legal Sociology, Chuo University Law School, Japan. Translated and edited by Luke Nottage, Professor of Comparative and Transnational Business Law, University of Sydney Law School, and Special Counsel, Williams Trade Law, Australia and Leon Wolff, Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University, Japan

• Contents: Part I: Introduction 1. Introduction — Community and the Law: A Critical Reassessment of American Liberalism and Japanese Modernity Part II: A Critique of American Liberalism 2. Invoking Law as Narrative: Lawyers’ Ethics and the Discourse of Law in the United States 3. The Moral Foundations of Tort Liability 4. Post-Divorce Child Visitations and Parental Rights: Insights from Comparative Legal Cultures Part III: A Normative Theory of Community and the Law 5. Rights and Community 6. Communitarianism and Constitutional Interpretation Part IV: A Re-Evaluation of Japanese Modernity 7. Japanese Modernity Revisited: A Critique of the Theory and Practice of Kawashima’s Sociology of Law 8. Litigation in Japan and the Modernisation Thesis Bibliography Index

‘Takao Tanase seamlessly combines sociolegal and philosophical analysis as he explores the tensions between individual legal rights and communitarian values in settings ranging from post-divorce visitation rights to tort liability, lawyer–client relationships, and rising litigation rates. Contrasting Japan with the individualistic thrust of American law, Tanase stresses the importance of building legal processes that encourage stronger social and communal bonds. Students of law and society on all continents will find rich food for thought in this intellectually bold and intriguing volume.’