J. Mark Ramseyer

rdf:langString J. Mark Ramseyer

rdf:langString John Mark Ramseyer (born 1954) is the Mitsubishi professor of Japanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is the author of over 10 books and 50 articles in scholarly journals. He is co-author of one of the leading corporations casebooks, Klein, Ramseyer & Bainbridge, Business Associations, Cases and Materials on Agency, Partnerships, LLCs, and Corporations, now in its 10th edition. In 2018 he was awarded Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in recognition of "his extensive contributions to the development of Japanese studies in the U.S. and the promotion of understanding toward Japanese society and culture." In 2021, Ramseyer came under scrutiny for his controversial article published in the International Review of Law and Economics which, drawing from contracts, attempted to discredit the testimony of comfort women conscripted under Japanese imperial rule. He was accused of "serious violations of scholarly standards and methods that strike at the heart of academic integrity," which include misrepresentations of Japanese sources and inaccurate citation practices. Prominent academics challenged the veracity of Ramseyer's research, since they did not find historical evidence of the contracts he described in his article. The article was supposed to be included in the journal’s March 2021 release, but the release was suspended so that it could include a number of responses to his article as the journal issued an “expression of concern” and said the article was under investigation. As of October 2022, no further articles by Ramseyer have been published in the International Review of Law and Economics, although the original online preprint of Ramseyer's article, according to the journal's policies, "will remain globally available free to read whether the journal accepts or rejects the manuscript."