Gunboat Justice ― British and American Law Courts in China and Japan 1842-1943

Foreign gunboats forced China, Japan and Korea to open to the outside world in the mid-19th century. The treaties signed included rules forbidding local courts from trying foreigners; or, "extraterritoriality." Britain and the United States established consular courts in all three countries and, as trade grew, the British Supreme Court for China and Japan and the United States Court for China. These courts for many decades—over 100 years in China—dispensed British and American justice in the Far East. Extraterritoriality had a huge impact, which continues to this day, on how China and Japan view the world. This book tells its history through the fascinating cast of characters both on and before the bench and the many challenging issues the courts faced including war, riots, rebellion, corruption, murder, infidelity, and, even, a failed hanging. Doug Clark, a practicing lawyer who has lived in China, Japan and Korea for over 25 years, has trawled through dusty archives around the world to bring back to life this long-forgotten exotic world.

Douglas Clark is a lawyer currently practicing in Hong Kong. Originally from Australia, Doug studied Japanese at Nagata Senior High School in Kobe, Japan and Chinese and Chinese law at Fudan University in Shanghai. He also studied Korean for six months in Seoul. Armed with double degree in Asian Studies and Law from the Australian National University he commenced practice as a lawyer in Hong Kong in the mid-1990s. He was then based in Shanghai for 11 years where he set up and was Managing Partner of international law firm Hogan Lovells’ Shanghai office. In 2011, wishing to return to courtroom advocacy he relocated to Hong Kong as a lawyer. Doug is the author ofPatent Litigation in China and co-author of Civil Litigation in Hong Kong. He is also the associate producer of the art house movie, “I Really Hate My Job”.