In 1996, I wrote "American Law" based on my many years of living and practicing law in the United States.  It was first published by the Union Publishing Press in Hong Kong and then by the China Science and Technology University Press.  The book was well received and was adopted by quite a few universities and law schools in China as reference work.  Many students and young lawyers were my readers; some even became my friends. In a flash twenty years have passed.  During that time I received valuable suggestions and encouragement from friends and readers.  

 

Several years ago I revised my book and added several chapters and materials on court trial, jury trial and law of evidence to make the book a comprehensive reference work. Mr. Zhao Liming of the China Law Press gave me valuable support and editorial contribution in publishing the revised book. However, I am changing the title to "Inside American Law" in the bilingual edition to reflect my intention to share some insights into American law from the perspective of a practicing American lawyer.

 

My law school student readers often urged me to write a bilingual edition of the book, but that was not practical. The bilingual version would be too bulky and in any case not suitable for the general readers.  So the project did not go forward.  In a flash many years have passed.  As technology advances, a digital bilingual edition of the book is not only feasible; more important it can reach wider, international readers.

 

As I review my writings from the past, I find that the contents of the book have stood the test of time, partly because the original purpose has been to focus on the explanation and analysis of American law's principles, concepts, cultural themes, and their historical contexts and cultural background. Those have not been affected by changing circumstances and passage of time.  For example, the recent wave of same sex marriage sweeping across the United States is foreshadowed in my book's discussion of  the equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and the rise of the culture of victims.

 

There are quite a few similar examples. One is when I point out the out of proportion number of lawyers in American political tradition, citing President and Mrs. Clinton and Vice President Gore as examples. Today I can easily add President and Mrs. Obama to the lawyer-politican list, but that is just a reinforcement of the point I have already made and thus is of minor importance.

 

Another example is my consistent critique of the ills in American society, presenting as evidence the following figures: a million prisoners, almost a million lawyers, and two hundred million guns. Today, the new figures are 2.2 million prisoners, 1.3 million lawyers, and over three hundred million guns.  Again the the new data will be just reinforcement of the original critique.

 

Of course there have been tremendous changes and development of the world in recent years, but not so much in American law. For example I used to compare Civic Law and Common Law in the book and cited the presumption of innocence as a major distinction. Today France and China have adopted the presumption of innocence standard, but they remain Civic Law jurisdictions. Similarly, the United States recently adopted the "first to file, first to invent" standard in patent law to catch up with the rest of the world, including China. However, patent law is marginal to American law so nothing fundamental has changed.     

 

Nevertheless as I review my old writings to prepare for the bilingual edition, I discover at least two shortcomings. The first is too many repetitions, though they were intentional.   The original book appeared in 1996 and was designed for Chinese readers with limited knowledge of English and about the United States.  Many legal terms and points made in the book were intentionally redundant. The thinking was that concepts like "freedom and self-reliance", "not guilty" and "innocent", "default" and "waiver" and numerous others were abstract and full of nuances and subtleties; to be absorbed they need to be pounded into the readers by repetitions. That thinking is still valid today for many readers: comments of a reader named Form-da-ble is representative:

 

            This book is the best of the books bought in last several weeks of Amazon kindle special book sale!! Recommend it120 times!  Before I read this book, I understood nothing about American history.  After reading it, I developed a strong interest in American history.  The author writes very well.  He uses simple, easily understood language to explain the origin of the Amercian spirit, the Declaration of Independence, the relation between the 13 States and the Federal Government.  After I finish readying, they become suddenly so clearly understood.  After reading, I immediately searched other books about American history, and felt right away that they were easy to get into.  This books is just such a great enlightening book!!

 

 Also, the author is like a teacher in the classroom, using many examples to explain by association, allowing the concepts to sink inside the brain.  That is so perfect for someone like me, so new to the law and history! Thank you Mr. Kei-on Chan!!

(translated from original Chinese)

 

 

However, more advanced or sophisticated readers of the bilingual edition may find the redundancies a little tedious or pedantic. Fortunately the shortcoming is stylistic and not substantive. I can only ask for the readers1 indulgence.

 

The other lesson I impress on the readers repeatedly is the virtue of remaining silent and "stop when you are ahead", illustrated by the movie "The Story of Qiu Ju". With that I shall take my own advice and conclude this Preface.

 

For publications of my books  once again I must thank Mr. Zhao Bin of the Union Publishing Press, Ms.Wenney Zhang Chunjin of China science and Technology University Press, Mr. Hu Shenghua and Miss Grace Zhu Lin of the ChinaScience Press, andMr.Zhao Liming of theChina Law Press for their unstinting support over the years. Last but not least I am indebted to Miss Amanda Che and Miss Amanda Tsai for their suggestions and assistance in my online endeavor.

 

Kei-on Chan, 2015