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Exploring the Limits of the Judicialization of Urban Land Disputes in Vietnam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

John Gillespie
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Abstract

Economic and legal reforms have triggered waves of conflict over property rights and access to urban land in Vietnam. In this article I develop four epistemic case studies to explore the main precepts and practices that courts must negotiate to extend their authority over land disputes. Courts face a dilemma: Do they apply state laws that disregard community regulatory practices and risk losing social relevance, or apply community notions of situational justice that undermine rule formalism? I conclude that reforms designed to increase rule formalism in the courts may have the unintended consequence of reducing the capacity for judges to find lasting solutions to land disputes.

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Articles
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Law & Society Review , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 241 - 276
Copyright
© 2011 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

The author wishes to acknowledge the generous cooperation of Vietnamese judges, lawyers, and academics, as well as research support provided by the Australian Research Council funding grant DP0985927.

References

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