Professor Meryll Dean

This article uses the thematic of humanitarian protection to examine the convergence of laws in Europe. It considers the heterogeneous architecture of the Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights then analyses the homogenous framework of the EU's Common Asylum System and, in particular, the Qualification Directive. It argues that in an area where international, regional and national laws intersect, convergence needs to be underpinned by Member States adopting a common interpretative methodology that has international law at its core. Article 15 of the Qualification Directive (QD) is used to illustrate how this can be achieved. The article adds to the growing literature on the convergence of laws in Europe and illustrates the importance of adopting a common interpretative methodology. It suggests a paradigm for protection regimes around the world and a methodology that could be transplanted to other areas of law involving the intersection of international, regional and national laws.

Alan Watson's theory of legal transplants was pioneering and innovative. It moved comparative law beyond ideas of legal families and legal systems by providing both a tool and a metaphor for examining hybrid, or mixed, legal systems. However, socio-legal comparativists in particular criticised his approach because of its failure adequately to acknowledge the importance of legal culture in transplant theory. As a hybrid legal system Japan provides an operative laboratory of comparative law. This paper examines jury trial to evaluate Watson's theory. It concludes by offering a new threefold categorisation of legal transplants.

Human trafficking is a worldwide problem that international organisations have attempted to address since the early part of the twentieth century. Today it is a lucrative worldwide business operated by international criminal organisations that generates billions of dollars whilst bringing misery and degradation to the victims. Using a legal thematic this article examines human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Japan. It asks if Japan's domestic legal framework adequately addresses the issue and whether Japan is fulfilling its international legal obligations.