The book is the result of a symposium organised by the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law in 2021 and includes contributions from both symposium participants and additional authors. The book takes as its theme that private international law of East Asian countries (in particular, the People's Republic of China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea) has been adapted to suit each country's cultural and social contexts. As the East Asian countries have gained increasing global influence in trade and economy, their adaptations of Western private international law have started to influence other, especially less developed, countries.

The book is divided into four parts. The first part of the book, entitled ‘General Overview of Legal Regimes’, consists of four chapters providing background on the legal systems of the People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Chapter 2 describes the overall structure of the central government and its organs in shaping the laws in the People's Republic of China. The author explores the notion of ‘principal contradiction’, derived from Marxism-Leninism, and uses the example of the Joint Venture Law of 30 July 1979 to demonstrate how its enactment responded to the identified ‘principal contradiction’ of the relevant time. What appears to be missing from this chapter, however, is an explanation of the judicial system of the People's Republic of China, especially the role of the Supreme Court's ‘Judicial Interpretation’ and the system of ‘Guiding Cases’ in shaping its laws.Footnote ¹ Chapter 3 highlights three significant events that have shaped Japanese law, starting with the perceived ‘unfair treaties’ Japan signed with Western countries between 1854 and 1869. To counter these injustices, Japan began to modernise its laws along Western models. After the Second World War, Western countries pushed Japan to reform its laws and legal institutions along the Western values. From 1989, the financial crisis necessitated further reforms to legislation. Chapter 4 appears to be less relevant to the overall theme of the book, as the author acknowledges (p 38). This chapter focuses on the narrow concept of compulsory share in South Korean succession law, whereby next of kin can receive a share of the estate despite having been excluded from inheritance. South Korea inherited this legal institution from the Japanese law during the period of Japanese occupation between 1910 and the end of the Second World War. Chapter 5 explains how Japan, which occupied Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, introduced Taiwan into the continental civil law system. When the Kuomintang took over Taiwan, the civil law system of the Republic of China was no stranger to Taiwan.

The second part of the book, entitled ‘Rules on Private International Law’, consists of four chapters. Chapter 6 describes the development of the Chinese private international law, including the recent establishment of the China International Commercial Court, which is of interest given China's growing influence on international trade through the Belt and Road Initiative. Chapter 7 explores recent developments in private international law in Japan, taking note also of challenges posed by the diversity of legal systems in the region, which might impede the process of ‘regionalisation’ of private international law. This chapter examines international co-operation between countries both within and outside the region under the efforts of the Hague Conference on International Private Law and the ‘Asian Principles of Private International Law’ project. Chapter 8 examines the (seemingly wishful) proposition that Hong Kong could play a leading role in spearheading the ‘Asian Principles of Private International Law’ project. As the only common law jurisdiction in East Asia, Hong Kong may appear isolated from other jurisdictions in the region. The chapter, nevertheless, suggests that Hong Kong's legal system may influence the development of private international law in the Greater Bay AreaFootnote ² and in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.Footnote ³ Chapter 9, finally, explores recent developments in private international law in South Korea.

The third part of the book, entitled ‘Relations of Courts’, consists of two chapters. Chapter 10 discusses the Japanese approach to the choice of court agreements under the 2012 Code of Civil Procedure. The chapter asks whether the Japanese approach might influence other jurisdictions in their approach to the choice of court agreements. Chapter 11 focuses (rather narrowly) on a case decided by the Supreme Court of South Korea in 2018 concerning compensation for wartime forced labour. While this case has implications for how Japan and South Korea understand and interpret two bilateral treaties, it appears to have limited relevance beyond the specific context of the two countries.

The fourth part of the book, entitled ‘Family and Succession Law’, contains three chapters. Chapter 12 explores the choice of law, jurisdiction, and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in the People's Republic of China. Chapter 13 examines thought-provoking issues relating to surrogacy and same-sex marriage under Japanese law. Chapter 14 provides a sound comparative analysis of the applicable law to succession in China, Japan, and South Korea.

Overall, this book makes valuable contributions to the field of private international law. However, given the broad scope of the subject, even with the book's already limited focus on East Asia, the depth of analysis within each chapter must necessarily remain somewhat limited. One key area that is notably absent is a discussion of how East Asian private international law concepts may influence the development of private international law in other countries. Such a discussion would have been important to the aims of this book. As the editors suggest, ‘[t]he resulting innovations, accompanied by a rise in the international discursive power of China and Japan in particular, makes the next step one of becoming exporters of legal developments to others’ (p 2). The editors return to this theme in their conclusions, where they assert that ‘this trend has now reached a new stage, with several of the innovative approaches to private international law developed in these states now being adopted by other legal orders’ (p 193). The growing influence and innovative practices of East Asian countries in the field of private international law are hence trends that merit ongoing attention.