Rapid economic development and political change in East Asian economies in recent times has brought about widespread change to the laws and legal systems of these countries. Institutions such as the courts, the legal profession, law schools and regulatory bodies in East Asian countries have grown in size and complexity, many older laws have been revised, especially in the field of commercial law, and many new laws have been passed. This series brings together key essays and articles selected from academic and scholarly research into the law and legal change in East Asia. The essays range from studies of the operation of particular laws and legal institutions to comparative law studies, and include analysis of the influences of local culture and political structures. Several essays critique Western legal models of legal reform and the effects of globalization and Americanization on different law reforms and legal institutional arrangements, whilst others consider the distinctive features of East Asian laws and legal institutions, the diversity of market based legal systems and the problems of implementing legal changes in the face of the powerful influence of traditional ideas and political structure in East Asian societies. The four volumes in the series are edited by leading East Asian legal scholars, each of whom contributes an original introduction. Taken together, these volumes collect the best of legal scholarship from the debates about the role of law and legal institutions in increasingly robust East Asian legal systems.