Journal Title
International Journal of Legal Information
Volume
34
Issue
1
First Page
181
Document Type
Book Review
Publication Information
2006
Abstract
Mr. Wei Luo has taken up the enormous challenge of establishing a subject-arrangement codification system and a uniform legal citation standard for China. Mr. Luo’s unique exposure to the Chinese legal system and law making process has made him the ideal scholar to address Chinese legal research. As a result of a five-year-long endeavor to direct these codification and legal citation projects, Mr. Luo has published his outstanding volume Chinese Law and Chinese Legal Research.
As the title of the book indicates, Mr. Luo’s work has gone far beyond the scope of an ordinary research guide or annotated bibliography. He devotes the first four chapters of the book to explaining Chinese legal culture and the legal system. These four chapters alone are a valuable treatise not only for law librarians, but also for law professors, practitioners, and students. The five remaining chapters cover topics ranging from an in-depth analysis of the Chinese publishing industry, to censorship, government information dissemination, internet sources on Chinese law, and lists of major Chinese legal bibliographies.
Mr. Luo’s seminal work has many virtues, but three in particular should be noted. First, Mr. Luo has successfully integrated scholarly writing with extensive bibliographical information. Second, Mr. Luo has creatively embedded Chinese sources in their original form into the text and footnotes of his book. Third, Mr. Luo’s work is incredibly comprehensive. For these reasons, Chinese Law and Legal Research is the most important source for researchers who try to navigate the labyrinth of Chinese legal materials, and is highly recommended for academic libraries that support Chinese law research.
Recommended Citation
Chenglin Liu, Chinese Law and Legal Research (book review), 34 Int'l J. Legal Info.181 (2006).