ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a theoretical and historical background to the question of Asian legal development. It examines the impact of what has been called the ‘Japanese model’ on Asian legal developments. The book looks at the role of law in the ‘socialist market economy’ of China. It examines the export of the Singapore model to the China–Singapore Industrial Park in Suzhou. The book deals exclusively with Southeast Asia and examines the different means of resolving trade disputes in Asia. It discusses some of the more recent examples of socio-legal scholarship on Asian commercial laws. The book analyses the labour laws of the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore by using the concept of patriarchalism, by which he means a form of traditional authority with a strong familialist focus.
