REVIEW ON JOHN W. HEAD’S WORKS: GREAT LEGAL TRADITIONS - CIVIL LAW,COMMON LAW AND CHINESE LAW IN HISTORICAL AND OPERATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

John W. Head, Great Legal Traditions - Civil Law, Common Law and Chinese Law in Historical and Operational Perspective. Durham (North Carolina): Carolina Academic Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-59460-957-2. Pgs: xxiv + 676.     

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT＇S JUDGEMENTS INFLUENCE ON THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

In all democratic states, constitutional courts, which are traditionally empowered to invalidate or to annul unconstitutional statutes, have the role of interpreting and applying the Constitution to preserve its supremacy and to ensure the prevalence of fundamental rights. In this sense, they were traditionally considered as ＂negative legislators,＂ unable to substitute for the legislators or to enact legislative provisions that could not be deduced from the Constitution. During the past decade, the role of constitutional courts has dramatically changed, as their role is no longer limited to declaring the unconstitutionality of statutes or annulling them. Today, constitutional courts condition their decisions on the presumption of constitutionality of statutes, opting to interpret them according to or in harmony with the Constitution to preserve them, instead of deciding their annulment or declaring them unconstitutional. More frequently, constitutional courts, instead of dealing with existing legislation, assume the role of assistants or auxiliaries to the legislator, creating provisions they deduce from the Constitution when controlling the absence of legislation or legislative omissions. In some cases, they act as ＂positive legislators ＂, issuing temporary or provisional rules to be applied pending the enactment of legislation.     

GLOBALIZATION OF LAW： A CHINESE PERSPECTIVE ENCOUNTER： HOW DUNCAN KENNEDYAND CHINESE LEGAL SCHOLARS VIEW LEGAL TRANSPLANTS AND THE RULE OF LAW -- A COMMENTARY ON THE HARVARD-RENMIN VIRTUAL WORKSHOP ON DUNCAN KENNEDY＇S THREE GLOBALIZATIONS OF LAW AND LEGAL THOUGHT

Concerned about China＇s future, a panel of Chinese legal scholars invited Professor Duncan Kennedy to discuss legal transplants and the rule of law. This commentary contextualizes their ideas and concerns and aims to clarify some concepts and arguments that underlay their discussion. At times though using the same words the participants were talking about different things. By legal transplants, the Chinese scholars were initially speaking of specle laws, while Duncan Kennedy was referring to legal thought. By law being political, Duncan Kennedy largely meant the distributive and discretionary nature of adjudication, while the Chinese participants were criticizing the interference by the Party and the government with judicial practice. Yet through this encounter, much was exchanged and debated. Regarding the triggers of legal transplants, the Chinese participants emphasized the law＇s quality and the donor＇s power, while Duncan Kennedy was more interested in chance and the recipient＇s strategy. Among the multiple ways of defining the rule of law, both sides agreed that it should be an institutional framework within which an independent judiciary checks the executive power. Nonetheless, each side had their own hopes and reservations on how this institutional framework can enable judges to faithfully apply the law.     

CONSTRUCTION OF A GOVERNMENT UNDER THE RULE OF LAW — AN OVERVIEW OF REPORT ON CHINA LAW DEVELOPMENT 2014: CONSTRUCTION OF LEGAL GOVERNMENT

At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Decision of the Central Committee of the CPC on Some Major Issues concerning Deepening the Rule of Law 2014 was passed and delineated the direction for the research of our nation’s construction of a government under the rule of law. For years, the government at various levels and administrative agencies adhered to conducting work on the legal course under the CPC’s leadership, actively promoting administration according to law, and constructing a government under the rule of law, and have made enormous achievements. However, there many difficulties still co-exist, along with challenges and opportunities. By adopting theoretical and empirical research approaches such as data analysis, normative analysis, interviews and investigations, questionnaires, counter-measure research, and case studies, this article discusses and conducted systematic and in-depth research on the theoretical framework of the construction of a government under the rule of law from macroscopic, to microscopic aspects. This article outlined the basic contexts and realistic vision for China’s construction of a government under the rule of law, which can provide active implementation of the project of construction of government under the rule of law with a basis in theoretical reference.     

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ＂MODERNITY AND CHINESE LEGAL CULTURE＂ HELD AT RENMIN UNIVERSITY OF CHINA LAW SCHOOL

The legal reform of the late Qing Dynasty that took place more than one hundred years ago has usually been considered as the starting point of the transformation and modernization of Chinese legal culture. Following that, both the Republic of China＇s legal system, and the Chinese legal system drawing on Western experience since the opening-up, have been （to a large extent） developed by the purpose of pursuing modemity. Hence, the relationship between modernity and Chinese legal culture is the crucial point in understanding the development of Chinese legal system in modem times, and also a point in comprehending the ongoing legal system construction in a global perspective.     

“PARADOX OF ENGLISH LAND LAW” — AN ENLIGHTENMENT TO LAND LAW REFORM IN CHINA

Since the founding of New China in 1949, the land law system with Chinese characteristics has been formed based on various practices, inter alia, the evolution of the rural land law system from the agrarian reform to the cooperative and people’s communes and further to the household contract responsibility system, which made historical contributions to the development of Chinese social economy. However, with the development of the practices and the deepening of the reform, China’s land law system is facing great challenges under the new circumstances. Although many differences exist between English land law and Chinese land law in the areas of legal form, the regulated objects and contents, English land law can provide some beneficial enlightenment to China’s land law reform. Particularly, the “paradox of English land law,” which presents the way how the English land law, as the law adjusting the basic property relations with many traditional factors, responds to the process of social and economic development with leaps and bounds.     

TOWARDS THE RULE OF LAW OR THE RULE OF THE BOOTS？ A LIBERAL PERSPECTIVE ON DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Since the beginning of the ＂war＂ on terror, governments have implemented counter-terrorism laws and policies, in breach of their obligations under international human rights law, on account of the necessity to protect democracy against its enemies. Reliance on the human rights discourse in order to justify the violations committed renders it difficult to criticise these drawbacks without rethinking the concepts of rights and democracy and reformulating them. The present article attempts to answer this challenge along the lines of the reconstruction of the notions of liberal democracy as the rule of law and liberty, and human rights as spheres of individual sovereignty.     

FOCUS： PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN CHINA PUNITIVE DAMAGES,CHINESE TORT LAW,AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

In a country such as China, with abundant consumer products and the inevitability of product defects, claims for punitive damages are sure to arise under Article 47 of the new Chinese Tort Law. Article 47 provides that ＂（w）hereany producer or seller knowingly produces or sells defective products, causing death or serious damage to the health of others, the injured party may request appropriate punitive damages.＂ As Chinese jurists and scholars interpret Article 47, they may wish to consider whether lessons can be drawn from the American experience. During the past two decades, few areas of American law have changed more radically than the law on punitive damages. While there were once few restraints on the ability of a judge or jury to impose punitive damages in a case involving egregious conduct, today there are a host of limitations embodied in American state and federal law. In many American states, statutes or judicial decisions restrict the ability of a court to award punitive damages by narrowly defining the types of conduct that will justify a punitive award, raising the standard of proof capping the amount of punitive damages, requiring a portion of a punitive award to be forfeited to the state, or limiting vicarious liability for punitive damages. In addition, under federal constitutional law, the principle of due process limits the imposition of punitive damages by scrutinizing the ratio between compensatory and punitive damages and prohibiting an award to be based on harm to persons other than the plaintiff. An examination of these developments from a comparative law perspective may prove useful to the implementation of Article 47.     

A COMMON LAW-LIKE CIVIL LAW AND A PUBLIC FACE FOR PRIVATE LAW： CHINA＇S TORT LAW RENMIN UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP SERIES （2014）

On June 19, 2014, the third Renmin University International Virtual Workshop （RUIVW） was held at Renmin Law School. Professor Jacques deLisle from Pennsylvania Law School gave a talk based on his recent work on Chinese tort law -- A Common Law-like Civil Law and a Public Face for Private Law China＇s Tort Law in Comparative Perspective.1 The article illustrates two characteristics of China＇s tort law： First it has been influenced by common law and, second it contains public law elements.     

THE RIGHT TO EMPLOYMENT SECURITY IN CHINESE LABOR LAW：LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN LIGHT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Employment security is very often examined from a labor law rather than a human rights perspective. This article looks at the employment security in Chinese labor law from a human rights perspective. The right to employment security includes both negative and positive aspects: a negative right to protection against unfair dismissal, including dismissal for cause and economic redundancy, and a positive right to employment stability. Comparing Chinese labor law with international standards, this article focuses on analyzing important changes in the legislative developments in China in the past years, such as severance pay, labor contract with indefinite duration, and labor dispatching. This article also points out the main deficiencies, such as dismissal on the ground of criminal liabilities, weakness of trade unions and law enforcement, and no exemption of small employers. The article concludes with observing a tendency of Chinese law getting closer to international standards and pointing out the approach China should follow: to enhance employability through vocational training and providing better social security when strengthening the legislative protection of employment security.     

《SPORTS LAW IN CHINA》书评

正我国体育法学研究萌芽于20世纪80年代,作为一门新兴学科,它研究的重心之一就是体育法律制度。遗憾的是,时至今日我们并没有看到一部全面研究中国体育法律制度及其法律适用的体育法学论著出现,散见于体育法学教材中的体育法律制度只是肤浅的介绍,充其量只能满足科普的需要,与全面和深入研究相去甚远。让人倍受鼓舞的是,康均心教授及其研究团队最近的一本新书《SPORTS LAW IN CHINA》的出版面世很好的弥补了上述遗憾。康教授是武汉大学法学院体育法专业的博士生导师,他在体育竞技冲突的刑事解决机制领域多有著述,尤其在研究反兴奋剂和体育竞技冲突解决领域成果     

THE REALITIES OF LAW ARE THE WINNING NARRATIVES — BASIC THESES FOR A REALISTIC AND RHETORICAL PHILOSOPHY OF LAW

This article begins explaining the Aristotelian reduction of rhetoric to persuasion, which came to determine Western tradition until modern times. To understand Aristotle’s methodology the author then wants to discuss the concept of enthymeme, the “rhetorical syllogism,” in Aristotle’s own words. In order to try a realistic critique on the Aristotelian rhetoric, more adequate to a rhetoric of modern law, the author will suggest three epistemological points of departure, three theses, and the three levels of rhetoric that support them.     

GLOBALIZATION OF LAW： A CHINESE PERSPECTIVE EDITOR＇S NOTE

How could Critical Legal Study＇s insights benefit China？ When Chinese scholars at the inaugural session of Renmin University International Virtual Workshop （RUIVW） meet Duncan Kennedy, akey figure in the Critical Legal Study Movement, they seek to find out the answer.1 Kennedy＇s work on the globalization of law offers an ideal topic for the discussion.