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For approximately one century, the Chinese legal tradition, i.e. the sum of all moral concepts, norms, institutions, procedural rules, and behavioral patterns in Chinese society, has been in transition from a "traditional" existence that as been developed and maintained for over 2000 years towards a "modern" existence. The current "specifically Chinese socialist legal system", as it is officially called, is presently undergoing a rapid and complex evolution. It is characterized (1) by tradition,…

The law relating to the production and distribution of commodities comprises both private economic law (property law) and public economic law (business administration law), i.e. those norms which constrain, guide, and promote business activities. 1. Economic Aspects of the Constitution The Constitution is the fundamental legal source of economic law because in it the relationship between state and economy is defined in a manner that is definitive for the whole legal system. In its General Principles, the Chinese Constitution of 1982, …

Jurisprudence, not only as the art of legislation and law execution but also as a reflection on the meaning and the use of criminal law and other social norms (li,legal tradition )…

1. Historical Development Legislation as a legal regulatory tool of the state has emerged in China early on. According to the Zuozhuan (4th century BCE), legislative clauses were engraved in bronze vessels in the state of Zheng in 535 BCE. The annals of the Jin dynasty, which were compiled roughly 1000 years after that period during the early Tang dynasty, state that in 400 BCE the legal work of Li Kui …

After a century in which China's international relations were characterized by wars and a loss of sovereignty (extraterritoriality, Treaty Ports), the PRC's foreign policy was first informed by its ori…

All prerequisites for constitutionalism in its historical, European sense, as the limitation of the state through the separation of powers and the guarantee of human rights, were absent in early 20th-century China. Two constitutional drafts materialized at the central level during the last two years of the Qing dynasty that followed the model of the Japanese (Meiji) constitution. While the 1908 Principles of Constitution ( xianfa da gang) was little more than a system of norms as safeguards against pre-constitutional, absolute …

1. Historical Development The idea that China should also have a law to regulate the establishment and functioning of government bodies as well as the position of citizens was first voiced by politicians and publicists during the reform efforts of the late Qing period (i.e. during the first decade of the 20th century). Empress Dowager Cixi, who was ruling instead of the Guangxu Emperor, pretended to have the intention of establishing a constitutional regime in order to prevent the fall of the dynas…

1. Concept, Development, and Functions Modern administrative law does not only aim at facilitating administrative tasks, but also at protecting citizens (who are considered as legal persons) from infringements by administrative bodies. For this reason, the organization of the authorities has to be regulated, their tasks to be determined by law, and the legality of their actions have to be made open to judicial review. China's imperial administration was ordered by laws. The state philosopher Shen Buhai (385-337 BCE) associated the fa (laws) with the following functions: "Appoint officers according to merit; define the exact competences of the various offices; exert power over life and death; and monitor the capability of officials." These concepts constituted the basis for the examination of officials (examination system), for the incentive system, and for the system of ruling through a controlled bureaucracy. During the Tan…