Recommended Citation
Daniel H. Foote, Judicial Creation of Norms in Japanese Labor Law: Activism in the Service of — Stability?, 43 UCLA L. Rev. 635 (1996), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/1007
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This Article begins by examining the judiciary's role in employment litigation. Part II then considers the implications of this and related examples of judicial creation of norms in Japan. Plainly, in this context the stereotype of a passive judiciary with little significance for private parties is inaccurate. Yet do these cases truly reflect judicial "activism"? What is their significance with respect to the separation of powers debate? Even with regard to the sphere of private ordering, what judicial philosophy do they reflect? This Article then examines the impact that this judicially created set of employment norms has had, both on workers and employers, and considers future prospects for these norms within Japan. Finally, the closing section of this Article briefly considers some implications of the Japanese experience for the United States.