The Ninth and Tenth International Symposiums of Inter-Asia Research Networks Contracts, Litigation and Their Norms Compared: Asian and Islamic Regions

Why do people sign contracts and sometimes sue the other party?A contract is generally considered a legal act for the purpose of bilaterally guaranteeing rights and preventing disputes, but here it is more broadly understood as "regulating each other's actions based on agreement."On the other hand, if the contract (relationship) is broken, material or mental disadvantages arise, and the parties become unable to settle the matter, a lawsuit is brought about, whose purpose is the restoration of rights (or recovery of, or compensation for, losses), or the reset of the relationship.Contracts and litigation are widely seen in various regions of Asia and the world, but differences are seen in the form of contract and its certificate, frequency of litigation, judicial process, evidence and proof (witnesses, testimonies, documents, physical evidence, oaths, etc.), and the manner in which judgments are carried out.In the background, there are norms and ideas (fairness, justice, common sense, reason) regarding contracts and litigation, and people's awareness of them.The purpose of this symposium is to set out the state of the social order in each region and era through contracts and litigation, explore differences and similarities and their reasons through interactive comparison, and reconsider the modernist concept of contracts and litigation.With regard to contracts and litigation, various analytical methods such as the "law and economics" school, the new institutional economics, quantitative approach, and microhistory are presented.The symposium will be a place for an exchange of research interests and methods.The target areas are Japan, China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, and Arab countries, and the role and use of Islamic courts are one of the common topics for comparison.Each presentation addresses the subject through a distinctive case study, giving an overview of contracts and litigation in the region.Since our common theme is contracts and litigation, we will mainly focus on civil cases (real estate sales/leasing, inheritance, money lending, etc.).