Eric Feldman’s expertise is in Japanese law, comparative public health law, torts, and law and society. His books and articles explore the comparative dimensions of rights, dispute resolution, and legal culture, often in the context of urgent policy issues including the regulation of smoking, HIV/AIDS, and natural and nuclear disasters. Feldman has twice been a Fulbright Scholar in Japan and has received grants and fellowships from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Bar Association, the National Science Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council, among others. He is the author or editor of books published by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Harvard University Press, and his articles have appeared in journals including the California Law Review, Law in Japan, American Journal of Comparative Law, Los Angeles Times, Social and Legal Studies, Hastings Center Report, Lancet, Law and Society Review, and the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Award Information
Japan, the U.S., and France have each experienced intense and prolonged legal, social, and political conflict over the distribution of HIV - contaminated blood products. In each country, hemophiliacs infected with HIV have used the courts to seek compensation and justice; they have won a combination of monetary and moral rewards. This sociolegal project will use these conflicts as a lens through which to analyze three different legal systems and their effects on the processes and outcomes of litigation. It will employ empirical and qualitative data to test the thesis that in the case of conflicts over HIV and blood, the responses of these three systems have been remarkably similar. By examining in detail the conflicts over HIV and blood, the project will influence the behavior of those involved in current debates over HIV, blood, and public policy issues, and will challenge an enduring assumption of comparative law.
