ANU Law student Isabella Keith has excelled as part of the national Australian team at the 21st Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition in Tokyo last month, alongside teammates from the University of Sydney and Monash University.
James Fisher
Research Themes
Biography
James joined the ANU College of Law as a lecturer in 2022. Before this he spent eight years in academia in Japan as a Project Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo (2015-2020) and Associate Professor at Sophia University (2020-2022), where he remains a Visiting Lecturer. He also held visiting academic positions at Meiji University and Waseda University.
His principal research concerns English and Japanese private law, particularly contract and trusts. James maintains additional research profile in applied jurisprudence, comparative law theory, law and sexuality, and law and the humanities, with a substantive focus on contemporary Japanese culture.
Appointments
- Visiting Lecturer: Sophia University (Tokyo, Japan) (2022 - )
- Director of Moots and Competitions: ANU College of Law (2022 - )
- Board Member (Linkages and Engagements Advisory Group): American Society of Comparative Law, Younger Comparativists’ Committee (2017 - 2019)
- Academic Board Member: National Association of Licensed Paralegals (UK) (2015 - 2018)
Significant research publications
- Japanese Law and Literature (forthcoming 2023, Routledge)
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‘Gray areas in tort: Illegality and authority after Patel v Mirza’ (2021) 84(5) Modern Law Review 1122
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“Trusts as legal transplants: Lessons from Japan” in Ben McFarlane and Sinéad Agnew (eds), Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume 10 (2019, Hart Publishing)
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Contract Law in England and Wales (2018, Wolters Kluwer)
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“The trust as Trojan Horse: A comparative perspective on trusts’ role in Japanese succession law” (2018) 103 Iowa Law Review 1945
Recent news
Research projects & collaborations
Grants
Consultancies
- Consultant (Legal Education Reform): Japanese Judicial Scriveners’ Association (2015 - 2018)
Books & edited collections
- Making Trusts Civilised (in preparation)
- Japanese Law and Literature (with Giorgio Fabio Colombo) (Routledge, forthcoming 2023)
- Contract Law in England & Wales (Wolters Kluwer, 2018)
Refereed journal articles
- ‘“All I can do is ask”: COVID-19, lockdowns without law, and constitutionalism in Japan’ [2021] Public Law 251
- “The trust as Trojan Horse: A comparative perspective on trusts’ role in Japanese succession law” (2018) 103 Iowa Law Review 1945
- “The Constitution, international law and the rights of foreigners in Japan” (2015) 39 Journal of Japanese Law 109
- “Uncertainty, opportunism and the intermediate term: The Hong Kong Fir principle in English and Irish contract law” (2015) 14 Hibernian Law Journal 96
Book chapters
- “Invisible walls: Form and freedom in coded space” in Dale Mitchell et al. (eds), Cultural Legalities of Video Games (Routledge, forthcoming 2023)
- “Trusts as legal transplants: Lessons from Japan” in Ben McFarlane and Sinéad Agnew (eds), Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume 10 (2019, Hart Publishing)
- “The quasi-Constitutionality of non-statutory norms: executive Constitutional interpretation in Japanese law” in Richard Albert and Joel Colon-Rios (eds), Quasi-Constitutionality and Constitutional Statutes: Forms, Functions, Applications (2019, Routledge)
- “Pirates, Giants and the State: Legal Authority in Manga and Anime” in Ashley Pearson et al. (eds), Law and Justice in Japanese Popular Culture (2018, Routledge)
- “Rethinking the rules for the proprietary effect of freehold covenants” in Robin Hickey and Heather Conway (eds), Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume 9 (2017, Hart Publishing)
Conference papers & presentations
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“The (incomplete) civilisation of English law: the illegality rule, inside and out”: Obligations X, Western Law School, Canada (upcoming July 2023)
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“Public policy in private law: The ‘Civilisation’ of English law”: Twentieth Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, Kyūshū University, 2018
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“Trusts as legal transplants: Lessons from the trust in Japan”: Modern Studies in Property Law, University College London, 2018
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“Administrative Law in Japan: Politics, Culture and the Rule of Virtuous Men”: Law, Society and Administration in a Changing World, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 2017
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“Making trusts civilised: War, revolution and the English trust in Japan”: Obligations XIII, University of Cambridge, 2016
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“Two Quasi-Constitutional Norms in Japan”: International Symposium on Quasi-Constitutionality, Victoria University Wellington, 2016
Commissioned reports
Government submissions
Committees
External Organisations
Internal ANU Committees
Case notes & book reviews
- “Gray areas in tort: Illegality and authority after Patel v Mirza” (2021) 84 Modern Law Review 1122
- “The ‘one man company’ after Patel v Mirza: attribution and illegality in Singularis Holdings v Daiwa Capital Markets” (2020) 71 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 387
- “Contract variation in the common law: A critical response to Rock Advertising v MWB Business Exchange” (2018) 47 Common Law World Review 196
- “Rearticulating the rule against penalty clauses” [2016] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 169
- “The ex turpi causa principle in Hounga and Servier” (2015) 78 Modern Law Review 854
Other
PhD supervision
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SJD supervision
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MPhil supervision
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LLM Masters thesis supervision
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Honours thesis supervision
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Internship supervision
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Current courses
| Year | Course code | Course name |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 |
LAWS4227 Class #4190 |
Japanese Law and Society |
| 2023 |
LAWS4010 Class #1568 |
Jessup Moot |
| 2023 |
LAWS6010 Class #1569 |
Jessup Moot |
