Asia-Pacific Handbook

In 1986, through Doi Moi (Renovation), Vietnam sought to haul itself out of economic chaos and political stagnation. The "Pearl of the Orient" set about recreating an institutional framework of laws to manage the transition from a state-controlled economy to a multi-sectoral economy. The new State Constitution of 1992 acknowledges the needs of Doi Moi. Laws enacted to serve both domestic economic needs and foreign investment requirements now guide the new economic order. Organic laws on courts and the procuracy, on labour management, lawyers, a criminal code, etc provide Vietnam with some foundation for a nascent legal system. However, the inaccessibility of these materials, the paucity and scattered nature of foreign language literature on the development of the Vietnamese legal system continue to make it difficult for legal practitioners, foreign investors, political and cultural scholars to keep up with the rapid changes taking place in Vietnamese law and society. This volume systematises and analyses the developing Vietnamese legal framework in the light of a long and complex legal history: traditional and customary, Chinese Imperial, French/European Civil law, Soviet/Socialist and Anglo-Australian Common law influences.