Kentaro Hayashi: In Search of the Contemporary Significance of Social Law

2023/05/29

I specialize in social security law and labor law, but when explaining my field of specialization, I consciously use the term "social law."

In the past, the term "social law" was used in contrast to the concept of "civil law." While in the world of civil law, legal relationships are formed through negotiations between equal legal entities on equal footing, social law focuses on the actual imbalances of power that exist and aims to construct legal theories based on this recognition. Fields belonging to social law have included labor law, social security law, and economic law.

However, it is said today that the significance of specifically contrasting or emphasizing these has been lost. Although the term "social law" is still used to refer to these legal fields, I am skeptical about the extent to which the meaning behind the name is consciously recognized. In fact, it feels as though each field once grouped under social law now has its own independent scope and methodology. Is the concept of "social law" now merely a historical legacy?

No, that is not the case—this is the core of my research interest. Recent changes suggest that there is a renewed focus on this concept. For example, the emergence of the so-called "working poor" in the late 2000s demonstrated that the division between labor law and social security law—where people can enjoy a stable life solely through income from employment, and social security is for those unable to work sufficiently—is no longer realistic. Furthermore, the recent increase in non-employment work styles, such as freelancing—workers not covered by labor law—has sparked discussions on the use of economic law (Antimonopoly Act) as a means of protection and the collaboration between labor law and economic law. Of course, the mere fact that issues overlap in reality does not immediately prove the significance of social law. However, the fact that legal fields, whose common characteristics were once discussed and which subsequently developed independently, are now required to look at the same issues again may be an opportunity to give new meaning to the framework of social law.

At Keio University, the tradition of labor law and economic law providing research guidance together under the name of social law still remains. My desire, which I put into the explanation of my field of specialization, is to strive to make this place a base for considering the contemporary significance of social law and presenting it to the world.