The Academy for the Judiciary, Ministry of Justice (AJMJ), invited Professor Jianlin Chen, Vice Dean of the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne, to deliver a lecture on January 21, 2026. The lecture formed part of an academic exchange with the 66th Judicial Class. Professor Chen holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago and has previously taught at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong. His research interests span law and religion, criminal law, commercial law, comparative law, as well as law and economics.

Professor Chen’s lecture, titled “Interpreting ‘Badly’ Drafted Statutes: a Comparative Case Study of Sexual Offence,” drew on sexual offence cases from Australia and Taiwan. He explained to the trainees the core differences in how the elements of compulsory sexual intercourse are interpreted under criminal law within the common law and civil law systems. He also addressed the impact of poorly drafted legislation on judicial practice, particularly when courts interpret and apply the law in individual cases. Even where the same statutory provisions and factual circumstances are involved, judges may adopt differing views, each grounded in deeper underlying considerations. Emphasizing that there is no absolute right or wrong, Professor Chen encouraged the trainees to maintain a tolerant and open-minded attitude toward legal interpretations that differ from their own.

Following the lecture, President Hsun-Lung Wu led faculty members of the Academy to a luncheon with Professor Chen. During the meal, they engaged in in-depth discussions on topics including developments in Taiwan’s criminal justice practice regarding religious fraud involving sexual exploitation, the interaction between substantive criminal law and criminal procedure, as well as the workload and physical and mental well-being of judges and prosecutors currently in service.