Legal Transplants

Legal transplants, according to legal scholar W.A.J ‘Alan’ Watson occurs when a country’s legal system is adopted or moved to some other country. The transfer of the dominion of law often happens through the diffusion of law during colonization and globalization 's. However the possibility of legal transplant is often argued by scholars sparking debates. In Legrand’s the impossibility of legal transplant he mentioned that “for the transplant to be completely viable; it cannot just be an adoption of rules as there are many more aspects in making the rule, including culture, language, history and economy, therefore it is impossible to make and use rules that were made specifically to another country.” But supporters of the theory of legal transplant states it is possible in legal systems with already few similarities and rules are just words; you could adopt rules to the new changed setting to match the significance.

Through the development of Hong Kong from before, during and after colonization there is proof through the historical development that legal transplant has taken place. Hong Kong has been part of China’s history for a long time, but before the British colonized Hong Kong took on the Qing Law and substituted the gap from the penalty oriented code with local customs law. After the …show more content…
Chinese law is based on the Confucian teachings which are grounded on social harmony; whilst common law system is more of a confrontational judicial system. Therefore the traditional Chinese law system wasn’t able to conform to the common law system, and in return upsetting the people in Hong Kong initially. In order to make this legal transplant work in Hong Kong during court hearings the judges would apply the basics of common law and the British culture in deciphering Chinese Law and