Library of East Asian Law
Photo: FernUniversität Hagen
The specialised library of East Asian law with its special collections on Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese law looks back on almost 35 years of teaching and research on East Asia at the FernUniversität. In terms of scope and free availability, this library is one of a kind in Europe.
-
The systematic build-up started with a specialised Japanese law library, consisting of Japanese-language standard works, literature in Western languages and digital publications. Thanks to third-party funds and material resources raised by Prof Dr em Marutschke since the 1990s, including
Foto: FernUniversität HagenVilla Bechem, former location of the Japanese Law Library (2024)
Foto: FernUniversität HagenLibrary of the Institute for Japanese Law in the Villa Bechem, on the right In-Ho Kim (2015)
- support from various foundations (including the Library Support Programme of the Japan Foundation (国際交流基金) and a fundraising campaign by Prof Mikazuki, Mr Kawamoto and Mr Nakano at Japanese companies);
- numerous book donations (including from former DAAD and Humboldt scholarship holders and the former Modern Japan Foundation Library of the Department of Civil Law, Commercial and Corporate Law at the University of Hanover);
- several journal volumes (including from the Chair of German and Foreign Civil Procedure and Civil Law at the University of Cologne as well as all issues of the Hanrei Times since 1950 on DVD by the publisher of the same name (判例タイムズ社); and
- the extensive collection of case law from the Dai’ichi Hōki publishing house (第一法規) worth DM 20,000 at the time
as well as the work of librarian Tomoko Sekioka, an extraordinary collection on Japanese law was assembled and catalogued in five rooms of Villa Bechem in Hagen. This and the preliminary work on Korean law under Johann In-Ho Kim laid the foundations for the further expansion of the specialised library with regard to the entire field of East Asian law.
Unfortunately, due to a long-term vacancy in the professorship, the book collection was cleared out of the villa, stored in the basement of the main library, and no significant new acquisitions were made between 2004 and 2020.
-
Since Jun-Prof Dr Weitzdörfer was appointed in 2020 and Prof Dr Steinhauer took over the Hagen library management in 2021, the library has undergone extensive rework and strategic new acquisitions have been made. Since then, the East Asian Law department team and the University Library have been working closely together to achieve three goals: 1) guaranteeing that physical material can be easily found through inventory and orderly listing, 2) ensuring subject-specific usability by filling gaps in the collection and new acquisitions, and 3) providing digital searchability and the option of interlibrary loan through proper cataloguing.
Foto: FernUniversität HagenThe team of the department assorting the library stocks (2021)
Based on an already implemented acquisition strategy – thanks to a special library acquisition budget of around EUR 70,000 and owing to the reinvestment of income from the executive education programme as well as a book subscription concluded with the renowned publisher Yūhikaku (有斐閣) with the help of Prof Dr em Yasuhiro Okuda – all relevant gaps have been closed in a remarkably short time and new acquisitions have been secured for the future. By August 2024, almost 1,100 new volumes had been acquired and around had been 1,630 re-catalogued. For this task, once again a librarian, Natsuko Yamagishi, was employed, being assisted by team member Wataru Ono.
The result is the most extensive freely available collection of Japanese law literature in Europe, with almost 6,000 volumes on approximately 184 metres of shelving. (Similar collections at the Max Planck Institute and Goethe University Frankfurt are fragmented and not openly accessible, cannot be borrowed or cannot be lent out via interlibrary loan, or are less extensive.) On-site access and loans are already possible without restriction at the FernUniversität; interlibrary loans from 1,700 German libraries and all libraries participating in interlibrary loan worldwide are made possible by successive additions to the union catalogue (for instructions, see section 6 below).
In addition to Japanese law, strategic acquisitions on Korean law and Taiwanese law have been made successively since 2023, which will be accompanied by the establishment of executive education programmes on Korean law and Taiwanese law. Aquiring book donations – e.g., all issues of the Academia Sinica Law Journal by the Institutum Iurisprudenciae (中央研究院法律學研究所) – will again contribute to further expand the stocks on Korea and Taiwan. These will also be used to support the future LLM of East Asian Law degree programme.
Throughout Europe, the collection thus makes an outstanding contribution to the promotion of legal relations between Germany and East Asia in practice and academia. Moreover, it serves as an intersection between law and regional studies.
-
Photo: FernUniversität HagenNewly acquired Japanese-language books (2021)
Photo: Julius WeitzdörferJun.-Prof. Dr. Weitzdörfer acquiring books in a law bookstore in Tokyo (2024) The specialised library on East Asian law, which consists mainly of original literature, includes standard legal works and textbooks, law codes and legal commentaries as well as collections of case law alongside a considerable number of commemorative publications, conference proceedings, and monographs. They are supplemented by selected regional works on politics, economics and society as well as (specialised) dictionaries.
The book collection consists of
- 1,592 books on Japanese law in the library catalogue Alma, of which 20% are in Western languages and 80% in Japanese;
- 2,657 books on Japanese law in the Japanese general catalogue CiNii, of which 2% are in Western languages and 98% in Japanese;
- 119 books on Korean law in the library catalogue Alma, 85% of which are in Western languages and 15% in Korean;
- 41 books on Taiwanese law in the library catalogue Alma, 90% of which are in Western languages and 10% in Chinese; and
- approx. 500 books on Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese law (not yet catalogued).
By 2025, all 2,721 works and journals previously only catalogued in the general catalogue CiNii will also be catalogued in Alma.
The special collections on Japan, Korea and Taiwan are located at call numbers 203, 205 and 206, respectively; these call numbers are currently in the basement of Building B of the FernUniversität's University Library. Call numbers 166 and 204 also contain:
- 26 textbooks on the Japanese language (including here)
- 12 textbooks on the Korean language
- 11 textbooks on the Chinese language
-
Between 2022 and 2024, all journals and collections of case law were looked through, organised and provisionally inventoried; duplicates were removed, missing copies were purchased in antiquarian bookshops to fill gaps, and work began on binding and listing the already complete volumes.
Photo: FernuniversitätDonated books and journals from Korea (2023) 
Photo: FernUniversitätDepartment team members cataloging the journal collection (2023) The journal collections on Japan include:
- 19 printed periodicals on Japan (bound) in the library catalogue Alma, mainly with current collections
- 64 printed periodicals on Japan (in single issues) in the Japanese union catalogue CiNii, mainly with old collections
Ongoing subscription (starting from at least January 2022):
- Hanrei jihō (判例時報), Japanese: physical
- Hanrei taimuzu (判例タイムズ, Hanrei Times), Japanese: physical
- Hikaku-hō zasshi (比較法雑誌), Japanese: physical
- Hōrin – Vergleichende Studien zur japanischen Kultur (法輪), Japanese: physical and online
- Hōritsu jihō (法律時報), Japanese: physical
- Hōritsu ronsō (法律論叢), Japanese: physical
- Japanese Yearbook of International Law (JYIL), Western languages: physical
- Junkan shōji hōmu (旬刊商事法務), Japanese: physical
- Jurisuto (ジュリスト, Jurist), Japanese: physical
- Jurisuto bessatsu (ジュリスト別冊), Japanese: physical
- Kokusai shihō nenpō (国際私法年報, Japanese Yearbook of Private International Law, JYPIL), Japanese: physical
- Minshō-hō zasshi (民商法雑誌), Japanese: physical
- Shōji hōmu bessatsu NBL (商事法務別冊NBL), Japanese: physical
- Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht / Journal of Japanese Law (ZJapanR/JJapanL), Western languages: physical and online
The library catalogue Alma lists the following older library stocks (other works are currently being added):
- Bibliography of Standard Reference Books for Japanese Studies with Descriptive Notes, 9. B, Law, Western languages, physical
- Himeji International Forum of Law and Politics, Western languages, physical
- Hōrei zensho (法令全書, Gesetzesblatt), Western languages, physical
- Mita hyōron (三田評論), Western languages, physical
- Securities Market in Japan, Western languages physical and online
Older library stocks, which are currently being supplemented, comprise in the Japanese general catalogue CiNii:
- Aoyama daigaku sōgō kenkyū-jo hōgaku kenkyū sentā kenkyū (青山学院大学総合研究所法学研究センター研究叢書), Japanese: physical
- Bessatsu hanrei taimuzu(別冊判例タイムズ), Japanese: physical
- Bessatsu hōgaku seminā, shihō shiken shirīzu (別冊法学セミナー. 司法試験シリーズ, The Hogaku Seminar Bessatsu), Japanese: physical
- Dōshisha daigaku wārudo waido bijinesu rebyū (同志社大学ワールドワイドビジネスレビュー, Doshisha University World Wide Business Review), Japanese: physical
- Gaiko foramu (外交フォーラム, Gaiko forum), Japanese: physical
- Gekkan hōgaku kyōshitsu (月刊法学教室), Japanese: physical
- Global Asia: A Journal of the East Asia Foundation, Western languages: physical
- Hitotsubashi hōgaku (一橋法学,The Hitotsubashi Journal of Law and International Studies), Japanese: physical
- Hō-semi: Hōgaku seminā (法セミ: 法学セミナー, The Hogaku Seminar), Japanese: physical
- Hōgaku kyōshitsu (法学教室), Japanese: physical
- Hōgaku seijigaku ronkyū: Hōritsu, seiji, shakai (法學政治學論究: 法律・政治・社会, Journal of Law and Political Studies), Japanese: physical
- Hōgaku seminā sōkan, jōshiki shirīzu (法学セミナー増刊,常識シリーズ), Japanese: physical
- Hōgaku seminā sōkan, seminā hōgaku zenshū (法学セミナー増刊,セミナー法学全集), Japanese: physical
- Hōgaku seminā sōkan, sōgō tokushū shirīzu (法学セミナー増刊,総合特集シリーズ), Japanese: physical
- Hōrin – Vergleichende Studien zur japanischen Kultur (法輪), Japanese: physical and online
- ICCLP Annual Report, Western languages: physical
- ICCLP Publications, Western languages: physical
- ICCLP Review, Western languages: physical
- ICD News; Hōmu-shō hōmu sōgō kenkyū-jo kokusai kyōryoku-bu-hō (法務省法務総合研究所国際協力部報, Law for Development), Japanese: physical
- Japan Review of International Affairs, Western languages: physical
- JSPS Quarterly, Western languages: physical
- Jurisuto, sōkan, hōritsu no kyoten shirīzu (ジュリスト, 増刊, 法律学の争点シリーズ), Japanese: physical
- Jurisuto, sōkan, sōgō tokushū (ジュリスト, 増刊, 総合特集), Japanese: physical
- Keizai hōgakkai nenpō (経済法学会年報, The Annual of Economic Jurisprudence), Japanese: physical
- Kobe hōgaku nenpō (神戸法学年報, Kobe Annals of Law and Politics), Japanese: physical
- Nihon University Comparative Law, Western languages: physical
- Nomos (ノモス), Japanese: physical
- Progress in Informatics (PI), Western languages: physical
- Ritsumeikan Law Review, Western languages: physical
- Shakai hoshō-hō: Nihon shakai hoshō hōgaku kaishi (社会保障法:日本社会保障法学会誌, Journal of Social Security Law), Japanese: physical
- University of Tokyo Journal of Law and Politics, Western languages: physical
- Waseda Bulletin of Comparative Law, Western languages: physical
- Waseda Proceedings of Comparative Law, Western languages: physical
The journal collection on Korea includes:
- Two periodicals on Korean law in the library catalogue Alma
Ongoing subscription (from 2001 and from 2022):
- Journal of Korean Law (JKoreanL), English: physical and online from external source
- Korean Journal of International and Comparative Law (KJICL), English: online and online from external source
Additional periodical:
- Constitutional Court of Korea Annual Report, English: physical
The journal collection on Taiwan includes:
- One printed periodical on Taiwanese law in the library catalogue Alma
Ongoing subscription (from 2007):
-
Contents will follow shortly.
-
Contents will follow shortly.
-
The resources listed here will be updated soon.
Bilateral Institutions German English Japanese Embassy of Japan in Germany 
Consulate General of Japan in Düsseldorf Foundation for the Promotion of Japanese-German Scientific and Cultural Relations (JaDe-Stiftung) Institute for Private International and European Law and Comparative Law (Goethe University Frankfurt) German-Japanese Lawyers' Association (DJJV) 
Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law German-Japanese Society for Labour Law (DJGA) German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo (DIJ) Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) Japanese-German Society, Tokyo (JDG) Association of German-Japanese Societies (VDJG) German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan (DIHKJ) Japanese Institutions English Japanese State organisation chart (with further links) Supreme Court Ministry of Justice Federation of Bar Associations National Notaries Association Legal Texts PDF Civil Code (Minpō), Property Law
(with special thanks to Prof. Shiori Tamura)Link (VU) Civil Code, Family and Inheritance Law Link (PDF 308 KB) Code of Civil Procedure (Minso) Link (PDF 509 KB) Companies Act (Kaishahō) Link (PDF 2 MB) Labour Standards Act (Rōkihō) Link (PDF 233 KB) Administrative Procedure Act (Gyōtehō) Link (PDF 113 KB) Criminal Code (Keihō) Link (PDF 269 KB) Code of Criminal Procedure (Keiso) Link (PDF 419 KB) Corpora Juris English Japanese Cabinet Secretariat Mika Nishimura, Associate Professor, Kobe University Nagoya University (with dictionary) Ministry of the Environment (environmental law) Mizuho Bank (commercial law) World Legal Information Institute (database) Asian Legal Information Institute (database) Library of the National Diet (official database) e-Gov (database of national legal standards) Kagoshima University (database of local ordinances and statutes) Entscheidungssammlungen English Japanese Supreme Court (database of judgements) Transparency of Japanese Law kanz.jp (RSS) List of currently popular rulings Online publications and e-books English Japanese pdf Eser, Albin
"Beweisermittlung und Beweiswürdigung in vergleichender Perspektive"PDF Eser, Albin
"Doitsu-teki shiten kara mita nihonho ni okeru seitoka to menseki"PDF Eser, Albin
"Laienrichter im Strafverfahren"PDF Iyenaga, Toyokichi
The Constitutional Development of Japan, 1853–1881Jörg-Martin Jehle, Volker Lipp, Keiichi Yamanaka (Hg.)
"Rezeption und Reform im japanischen und deutschen Recht"PDF Senger, Harro von
"Zur japanisch-westlichen Menschenrechtskontroverse vom Jahre 1919"PDF Wahl, Rainer (Hg.)
"Umweltverfassungsrecht im deutsch-japanischen Vergleich"PDF Wahl, Rainer (Hg.)
"Verfassungsrecht der Humangenetik im deutsch-japanischen Vergleich"PDF Zingsheim, Nicole
"ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) nach japanischem Recht"PDF Japanese e-books by legal field
(click on 3 and then 32!)Other German English Japanese Statistics of Japan Government Surveys State Internet TV Explanations of Japanese Legal Terms Japanese-German Online Dictionary Japanese-German Kanji Dictionary Japanese Official Designations in English Japanese Podcasts German-speaking Lawyers in Japan (PDF) Institute Brochure (PDF 3 MB)
