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9 Korean J. Comp. L. 141 (1981)
On the Reception of Western Law in Korea

handle is hein.journals/ktilc9 and id is 145 raw text is: ON THE RECEPTION OF WESTERN LAW IN KOREA By Chongko Choi* I. Preface Gustav Radbruch (1878-1949), one of twentieth century's leading figures in legal philosophy, introduced in his Vorschule der Rechtsphio- sophie (1948). an important theme for research in legal sociology: the reception of Roman law in Korea.' Radbruch apparently had never been to Korea, but received a field report from Ernst Fraenkel (1898-1973), a student of Hugo Sinzheimer (1875-1945), Radbruch's close friend, who worked in Korea as a legal consultant from 1945 to 1948. Fraenkel reported that his role as legal consultant was that of a mediator between U.S. military jurists and Korean jurists who were already familiar with Roman law.2 How could Western law be received and realized in Korea, a so- ciety so apparently different from either Europe or America? Were there any confrontations with traditional Korean law during the process of reception? Korean law has been generally associated with the Roman-German legal family.3 How could this be possible? To what degree did Anglo- *Doctor of Jurisprudence, Freiburg University, West Germany, 1979; Full-time Lecturer of Law, College of Law, Seoul National University. 1. G. Radbruch, Vorschule der Rechisphilosophie, Heidelberg, 1948, p. 51. 2. E. Fraenkel, Korea: eine Wendepunkt des Volkerrechts, Berlin, 1952. Cited from G. Radbruch, a.a.O.S. 51. About E. Fraenkel, see my article, Ernst Fraenkel, Daehan Pyonhosa Hyophoeii (Korean Federal Bar Association Journal), Vol. 67, May, 1981, also in my book, Hanguk ui Soyangpop Suyongsa (Die Rezeption des europiiischen Rechts in Korea), Bakyongsa, 1982. 3. Concerning legal interchange between Korea and Germany, refer to Zong Uk Tjong, Beziehungen zwischen dem deutschen und koreanischen Strafrecht, Festschrift fir Htns Welzel zum 70. Geburtstag, 1974, pp. 277-288; Paul K. Ryu, Introduction. The Korean Criminal Code, South Hackensack, N.J., 1960, P. 1-29. Kim Chung-han, Historical and Comparative Research on Korean Civil Codes, Pophak (Seoul National Upiversity) Vol. 10, No. 2, 1868; Hyon Sung-iong, Legal Systems and the Position of Korean Law, Problems in Jurisprudence (A Collection of. Diserta- tions for Hong Chin-gi's 60th Birthday), 1977, pp. 183-219. Chongko Choi, Bophak ol tonghan Handok Kwan'gyesa (History of German-Korean Relationship through Legal Science), Handok Bophak (Recht in Deutschland und Korea), Vol. 2, 1980,

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