Law and Development Minus Legal Transplants

The Example of China in Vietnam

Bibliographic Data

ID3793297
AuthorsMatthew S Erie (0000-0002-0422-3338), Do Hai Ha, Ha Do Thi Hai
Year2021
Volume8
Issue2
Pages372-401
Publication date2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsian Journal of Law and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2052-9015 • E-ISSN: 2052-9023
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/als.2020.46
OpenAlexW3039293012
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited53

Legal transplants are broadly recognized as one of the main mechanisms by which donor states influence the legal development of recipient states. The experience of China, however, challenges convention. While, in recent years, China has been one of the largest capital-exporting countries in the world and has mobilized law to protect its investment in high-risk recipient states, legal transplants have, to date, not played a major role in China's approach to law and development. This article examines this puzzle through the case of China's participation in formulating Vietnam's 2018 SEZ Bill. In doing so, this article sets forth a number of hypotheses as to why Chinese law has thus far not assumed the form of legal transplant. The example of the SEZ Bill demonstrates how Chinese legal transplants depend as much on the "pull" of recipient states as they do on the "push" of the donor. The case-study of the SEZ Bill raises important questions not only for Chinese law and development, but also, more generally, for the viability of "second-order" legal transplants: those from an Asian donor to an Asian recipient

China · Chinese law · Common law · Municipal law · Political science · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · International Arbitration and Investment Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies · Law