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Congratulation Letter
It is a commonplace that an independent judiciary is a critical strut of an effective legal system which, in turn, is indispensable for establishing and maintaining a robust economy. It is not as widely appreciated that independent and peer-reviewed law journals and reviews are critical as well. To be constructive effective and consistent with goals, legislation and judicial administrative decision must be examined regularly and rigorously in a systematic intellectual fashion in order to determine whether they are performing their functions appropriately. The function of scholarly appraisal is thus central to the rational operation of a legal system.
In a global era, scholarly appraisal is performed perforce by reference to international and comparative legal experience. It must also be based upon a conception of a comprehensive transnational legal system rather than on autonomous national systems that only connect through certain formal linkages to other states and to an international system, as classic international law assumed. The practices that are to be analyzed must themselves be conceived not simply as the application of existing law through courts, but must also include lawmaking (including the pre-lawmaking functions) and law termination with all the social disruptions, as well as opportunities, that it entails. Moreover the appraisal function, if it is to be dependable, must carefully consider the continuing desirability and viability of the social goals against which current legal practices are to be tested.
I hope that the Peking University International and Comparative Law Review will prove to be an important instrument in the development of law and congratulate the founding editorial board for undertaking this important mission.
W. Michael Reisman
Editor-in-Chief of American Journal of International Law
Professor of Law, Yale Law School
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