Presentation

The “Chair of the Fondation pour le droit continental at the  Keio University ”. is scheduled by an agreement between Keio Law School of Keio University and the Fondation pour le droit continental.

This cooperation, which is headquartered at Keio University, is developing, not only in  the academic environments, but also expanding in the direction of legal and judicial environments and business circles, in order to create a forum for common thinking and action.

Each academic year, the Chair organizes a course having as its subject a general theme that is able to highlight the values and the methods of the continental legal culture, and which is of particular interest to Japanese jurists.

It will be selected by mutual agreement in the month of January of each year, by Keio Law School - Keio University  and the Fondation pour le droit continental.

The professors are selected by mutual agreement, by the Keio Law School of Keio University  and the Fondation pour le droit continental.

 The yearly course will be taught over a semester.

 It is included in the third cycle  Program (Master and Doctorate) of Keio University. It is likewise open to students of other Japanese universities and to the general public having an interest.

 Scheduled sessions

• November - December 2008 on the general theme of “Law and Economics”

First conference:  Introductory course, Professor Michel Grimaldi, Professor at the Panthéon-Assas University (Paris II).
Introductory course to French law from the standpoint of the relationship between law and economics.

Second conference:  The law of contracts and economics, by  Professor Yves-marie Laithier, Professor at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (Paris II)

 This course is intended to demonstrate:
- on the one hand, that the French law of contracts is oriented towards the creditor effectively obtaining what is due to him, the policy orientation which is not only based on a moral precept (compliance with a promise given) but which is likewise justified from the economic standpoint;
- on the other hand, that French law makes available to the creditor various means aimed at attaining this objective, and some of which (in the economic sense of the term) does not exist under the common law (for example, the penalty clause).

Third conference:  The law of companies and economics, Professor Michel Germain, Professor at the Panthéon-Assas University Paris II).
 This course opens a line of thinking about the following questions. A company’s purpose is to provide the economic players with a structure allowing for a concentration of capital. This power of concentration is expressed by means of the collective will at the General Assembly or the will of their proxies.. This rule which is common to all companies takes on specific variants in the companies that are listed and in the non-listed companies targeted by investment capital.

Fourth conference:  The Law of surety, of insolvency proceedings and economics, Professor Philippe Dupichot, Professor at the University of Maine.
This course seeks to verify the theory of the dependence of the French law of surety and of insolvency proceedings  with respect to considerations of an economic order and, in the affirmative, to measure the degree of such dependence.

 Report on this session by Professor Kanayama
" For each course, there were numerous participants in addition to those students who were regularly registered; 6 or 7 doctoral candidates, 4 or 5 professors who came from all over Japan who were specialists in that subject matter.
 It should be noted that Mr. Grimaldi’s Inaugural conference drew more than 200 participants. It should also be noted that on this occasion, we hosted the heads of the civil section of the Ministry of Justice, who are currently dealing with the reform of the law of obligations in Japan. This reflects well on the interest generated by this Chair.
 The discussion following each course was passionate; all of the participants were able to benefit from the course. All of the courses will be published in the Keio Law Review in Japanese, except for Mr. Grimaldi’s lecture which will be published in the Juriste review, the most prestigious of those offered by Dalloz." 

•  October - December 2009 on the general theme of “ Property law  in the 21st century”

 First conference:  The current stakes in property law: a French proposal

 Hugues Perinet-Marquet, Professor at the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II).

 Second conference:  Incorporeal property.

 Grégoire Triet, Partner, Gide, Loyrette, Nouel (Paris)

 Third conference:  Real property.

 Pascale Lecoq, Professor at the University of Liège (Belgium)

 Fourth conference:  Property in the developing countries.

 Ngoc Nguyen Dien, Professor at the Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).

• October - December 2010 on the general theme of “ Fundamental notions of civil law”

First conference:  The binding obligation Professor Mustapha Mekki, Professor at the University Paris-Nord (Paris XIII, France)

Second conference:  Real and personal property law, Professor Alexander Peukert, Professor at the University Goethe, Frankfurt on Main (Germany)

Third conference:  The codification, Professor Li Bin, Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Harbin Institute of Technology (China)

Fourth conference:  Formalism, President Jean-Paul Decorps, Honorary President of the Higher Council of Notaries (France)

•  October - December 2011 on the general theme of “ Managing assets on behalf of another party”

First conference: The mandate and trust by Mr. Rainer Schröder, Professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany)

Second conference: Asset Management of a minor or an adult protected by law, Heritage protection of a person presumed or declared missing by Mr. Keechang Kim, Professor at Korean University

Third conference: The Quebec trust, an institution unique in the civil law tradition, by Mrs Madeleine Cantin-Cumyn, Emeritus Wainwright Chair of Civil Law, Faculty of Law, McGill University (Quebec)

Fourth conference: The mandate and trust by Mrs Sylvie Lerond, Lawyer at CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre