Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T00:48:01.477Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

John Gillespie
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

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

References

Barros, David (2009) Hernando de Soto and Property in a Market Economy. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Berger, Peter, & Luckman, Thomas (1967) The Social Construction of Reality. Garden City, NJ: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Bui Ngoc Son, (2003) “Su Doc Lap Cua Toa Na Trong Nha Nuoc Phap Quyen [Independence of the Court and the Rule of Law],” 4 Tap Chi Nghien Cuu Lap 43–50.Google Scholar
Dang Hung Vo, (2009) Improving Land Acquisition and Voluntary Land Conversion in Vietnam. Policy Note 51942, World Bank, Hanoi, June.Google Scholar
de Soto, Hernando (2000) The Mystery of Capitalism: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. London: Black Swan.Google Scholar
Do Xuan Loi, (2005) “Role of Mediation in Judgment Enforcement,” 8 Democracy & Law 44–5.Google Scholar
Dorf, Michael, & Sabel, Charles (1998) “A Constitution of Democratic Experimentalism,” 98 Columbia Law Rev. 267–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evertsz, Helen (2000) Popular Housing in Hanoi. Hanoi: Cultural Publishing House.Google Scholar
Fu, Hualing (2010) “Access to Justice in China: Potentials, Limits and Alternatives,” in Gillespie, J. & Chen, A., eds., China and Vietnam Compared: Law Reform in Communist Asia. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Frank, David, & Meyer, John W. (2002) “The Profusion of Individual Roles and Identities in the Post-War Period,” 20 Sociological Theory 86–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, John (2007) “Rethinking the Role of Judicial Independence in Socialist-Transforming East Asia,” 56 International Comparative Law Q. 837–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom, & Chen, Albert, eds. (2009) Administrative Law and Governance in Asia. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hancher, Leigh, & Moran, Michael (1989) “Organizing Regulatory Space,” in Hancher, L. & Moran, M., eds., Capitalism, Culture and Regulation. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hoang Quoc Viet, (1962) “Viec Xay Dung Phap Che Xa Hoi Chu Nghia va Giao Duc Moi Nguoi Ton Trong Phap Luat [Building Up Socialist Legality and Educating People to Respect Laws],” 6 Hoc Tap 14–18.Google Scholar
Investconsult (2008) “Report on Social Survey on Conciliation Activates at the Grassroots Level.” Unpublished report, Canadian International Development Agency, Hanoi.Google Scholar
Jensen, Erik (2003) “The Rule of Law and Judicial Reform: The Political Economy of Diverse Institutional Patterns and Reformers' Responses,” in Jensen, E. & Heller, T., eds., Beyond Common Knowledge. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jessop, Bob (2001) “Regulationist and Autopoieticist Reflections on Polanyi's Account of Market Economics and the Market Society,” 6 New Political Economy 213–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JICA (2007) “Nghien Cuu Chung Viet-Nhat Ve Viec Phat Trien An Le Tai Viet Nam [Vietnam-Japan Joint Research of the Development of Judicial Precedent in Vietnam].” Unpublished report, Japanese International Cooperation Agency and Supreme People's Court, Hanoi.Google Scholar
Khanh Van, (2003) “Cai Cach Tu Phap: Nhin Tu Nhieu Goc Do [Judicial Reform: From Different Angles],” 4 Tap Chi Nghien Cuu Lap Phap 3–8.Google Scholar
Kim, Annette (2008) Learning to Be Capitalists: Entrepreneurs in Vietnam's Transition Economy. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koh, David (2004) “Urban Government: Ward-Level Administration in Hanoi,” in Kerkvliet, B. & Marr, D. G., eds., Beyond Hanoi: Local Government in Vietnam. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Leaf, Michael (2002) “A Tale of Two Villages: Globalization and Peri-Urban Change in China and Vietnam,” 19 Cities 23–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Hong Hanh, (1998) Giao Trinh Ly Luan Nha Nuoc va Phap Luat [Text Book on State and Law]. Hanoi: People's Police Publishing.Google Scholar
Lessig, Lawrence (1995) “The Regulation of Social Meaning,” 62 The Univ. of Chicago Law Rev. 943–1045.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moise, Edwin (1983) Land Reform in China and Vietnam. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Nguyen Nhu Phat, (1979) “Gop Y Kien Ve Van De: Dat Dai Thuoc So Huu Toan Dan [Suggestions on the Issue of People's Ownership of Land],” 4 Nha Nuoc va Phap Luat 14–16.Google Scholar
Nguyen Thuc Bao, (1986) “Mot So Y Kien Ve Quan Ly Dai Theo Phap Luat va Trach Nhiem Doi Voi Cac Hanh Vi Vi Pham Phap Luat Dat Dai O Nuoc Ta [A Number of Opinions About Law-based Land Management and Responsibility for Violations of Land Law in Our Country],” 2 Nha Nuoc va Phap Luat 7–15.Google Scholar
Nhan Dan, (1954) “Tam Chính Sach Cua Nuoc Viet Nam Dan Chu Cong Hoa Moi Cho Cac Thanh Pho Moi Duoc Giai Phong [Eight Policies of the New Democratic Republic of Viet Nam in the Recently Liberated Cities],” Nhan Dan, 1 Sept., 25–26.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Pip, & Nguyen Hung Quang, (2005) “The Vietnamese Judiciary: The Politics of Appointment and Promotion,” 14 Pacific Rim Law and Policy J. 1–34.Google Scholar
Peerenboom, Randall (2002) The Long March to the Rule of Law in China. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Pham Thi Thu Thanh, , & Tran Ha, (1971) Nam Xay Dung Nen Phap Che Viet Nam 25. Hanoi: Nha X B Lao Dong.Google Scholar
Phap Luat (2003) “Nganh Toa An Kho Kham Noi Viec Xu Ly Tranh Cap Dat Dai” [It is Very Tough for Courts to Resolve Land Disputes], Phap Luat Newspaper 2003, p. 2, http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Phap-luat/2003/07/3B9C9DE9/ (accessed 15 Aug. 2008).Google Scholar
Minh, Phung (1998) “40 Nam Quan Ly Nha Cua O Ha Noi [40 Years of Housing Management in Hanoi].” Unpublished paper, Hanoi.Google Scholar
Robertson, Michael (1999) “Picking Positivism Apart: Stanley Fish on Epistemology and Law,” 8 Southern California Interdisciplinary Law J. 401–48.Google Scholar
Sikor, Thomas (2004) “Conflicting Concepts: Contested Land Relations in North-western Vietnam,” 2 Conservation and Society 75–95.Google Scholar
Silbey, Susan (2005) “After Legal Consciousness,” 1 Annual Rev. of Law and Social Science 323–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sturgeon, Janet, & Sikor, Thomas (2004) “Post-Socialist Property in Asia and Europe: Variations on ‘Fuzziness,’” 2 Conservation and Society 1–17.Google Scholar
Tenev, Stoyan, et al. (2003) Informality and the Playing Field in Vietnam's Business Sector. Washington, D: International Finance Corporation.Google Scholar
Teubner, Gunther (1993) Law as an Autopoietic System. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Teubner, Gunther (1998) “Legal Irritants: Good Faith in British Law or How Unifying Law Ends Up in New Divergences,” 61 Modern Law Rev. 11–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teubner, Gunther (2001) “Alienating Justice: On the Surplus Value of the Twelfth Camel,” in Priban, J. & Nelken, D., eds., Law's New Boundaries: The Consequences of Legal Autopoiesis. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Toa An Nhan Dan Toi Cao, (2007) Bao Cao Tong Ket Cong Tac Nam 2005 va Phuong Huong Nhiem V Cong Tac Cua Nam 2006 Cua Nganh Toa An Nhan Dan [Supreme People's Court 2005 Annual Report of Judicial Work and a Proposed Plan for 2006]. Hanoi: Toa An Nhan Dan Toi Cao.Google Scholar
Tran Quang Huy, (2001) Giao Trinh Luat Dat Dai [Land Law Text Book]. Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Cong An Nhan Dan.Google Scholar
Truong Chinh, (1988) “Introduction to the Political Report,” Vietnam News Agency, 15 Dec., part 4.Google Scholar
United Nations Development Programme (2004) “Access to Justice: Survey from the People's Perspective.” Unpublished paper, United Nations Development Programme, Hanoi.Google Scholar
United Nations Development Programme (2007) Bao Cao Khao Sat Nhu Cau CauToa An Nhan Dan Cap Huyen Tren Toan Quoc [Report on Survey Needs of District People's Courts Nation Wide]. Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Tu Phap.Google Scholar
Vien Luat Hoc, (1980) Hien Phap Nuoc Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam [Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam]. Hanoi: Khoa Hoc Xa Hoi.Google Scholar
Viet Nam Competitive Index (2007) “Land Tenure for the Private Sector.” Unpublished report, Hanoi.Google Scholar
Whiting, Susan (2001) “Values in Land: Fiscal Pressures, Land Disputes, and Justice Claims in Rural and Peri-Urban China,” 48 Urban Studies 569–87.Google Scholar

Statutes Cited

Circular No. 713 TTg, Authorizing State Management Policies (1963).Google Scholar
Constitution of Vietnam (1980).Google Scholar
Land Law (1988).Google Scholar
Ordinance on Inheritance (1990).Google Scholar
Ordinance on Residential Houses (1991).Google Scholar
Constitution of Vietnam (1992).Google Scholar
Land Law (1993).Google Scholar
Law on the Organization of People's Courts (2002).Google Scholar
Land Law (2003).Google Scholar
Civil Procedure Code (2005).Google Scholar
English-language versions of Vietnamese legislation issued since 1988 are available on the Asian LII Web site, http://www.asianlii.org/resources/269.html (accessed 21 March 2011). Contact the author for further information about earlier legislation cited in this article.Google Scholar