Taiwan’s judicial reform process: East Asian context, democratization, and diffusion

Abstract

In 1999, a gathering of Taiwan’s legal elites and civil society agreed to enact sweeping changes to the island’s legal institutions. Wide-ranging judicial reforms were proposed to the ways citizens engage in civil litigation, challenge executive decisions in administrative court, how authorities prosecute crime, the nature and functions of the Judicial Yuan, judicial independence, and quality control of judges. Judicial reform in Taiwan has occurred at a time of similar systemic reforms in its most closely related jurisdictions. Taiwan is twice the legal offspring of Japan: first, the Japanese Empire’s law was administered during the 1895–1945 colonization period, and second, after World War II Taiwan received the Republic of China’s Japanese-influenced legal system.The judicial reform process in Taiwan took the form of a deliberative, three-day conference in 1999, the “National Judicial Reform Conference”. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Neil Chisholm; individual chapters, the contributors.