Catalogue of National Laws,Regulations, Judicial Interpretations and Departmental Rules （March - April 2009）

Laws Adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People＇s Congress of the People＇s Republic of China Resolution of the 2nd Session of the 11th National People＇s Congress on the implementation of the National Economic and Social Development Plan for 2008 and on the National Economic and Social Development Plan for 2009 （Adopted at the 2nd session of the 11 th National People＇s Congress - NPC - on March 13, 2009）     

THE EVOLUTION AND THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS OF CHINESE CONFLICTS LAW FOR TORTS

The legislation of choice-of-law rules for torts has a long history in China. General Principles of the Civil Law of the People＇s Republic of China of 1986 （GPCL）, Maritime Act of the People＇s Republic of China of 1992 （Maritime Act） and Act of the People＇s Republic of China on Civil Aviation of 1995 （Civil Aviation Act）provide respectively the choice-of-law rules for general tort, maritime tort and limitation of liability for maritime claims as well as tort arising out of civil aircraft. The Act of the People＇s Republic of China on the Application of Laws in Foreign-Related Civil Relations of 2010 （PIL-Act） not only brings developments and changes to conflict rules for tort in general, but also provide choice-of-law rules for product liability, infringement of the right of personality via the internet and liability arising from an infringement of intellectual property rights, which marks that Chinese conflicts law has entered into a new developmental stage and taken on several new trends： （1） Chinese conflicts law system for torts has been basically set up; （2） Chinese choice-of-law rules for torts are becoming more and more diversified,＂ （3） the prineiple of party autonomy has been fully introduced to tort liability; and （4） judicial interpretations issued or to be issued by the Supreme People＇s Court will still play an important role in judicial practice.     

LAWMAKING IN CHINA： DEVELOPMENT,ISSUES AND RETHINKING

Since the Reform and Opening period commenced, lawmaking in China has made great achievements, constructed a lawmaMng institution composed of constitution, laws, administrative and local rules and regulations as the source of law, and a legal system composed of constitutional and related law, administrative law, criminal law, civil and commercial law, economic law, social law, and procedure law. However, lawmaking in China faces new issues needing resolution. This paper focuses on the relation of lawmaking between the National People＇s Congress （PC） and its Standing Committee （SC）, between the NPC and the administrative and local organs. Because most laws are enacted by the SC with a small number of elites, but not the NPC with a large number of deputies, the challenge lies in how to represent the people and ensure the people＇s character of the laws. As the administrative and local organs enact the rules and regulations, how can their conformation to the Constitution and laws be ensured？ Is it enough to only depend on an original deliberative mechanism？ China needs to create and develop new mechanisms to resolve these issues.     

DATA ANALYSIS OF PROFESSIONALIZATION OF LEGAL WORKERS IN CHINA

Since the reform and opening up, the legal profession in China has changed dramatically. In terms of both quantity and quality, the legal profession has stepped into a new phase. A tendency towards widespread litigation and more professionals.＂ judges, lawyers and law students, can be clearly evidenced. Along with the development of the legal profession, other types of legal workers including business arbitrators, grassroots paralegal service workers （grassroots paralegals）, and mediators have experienced great changes. To a certain extent, they have become more marginalized than before. The development of the legal profession is extremely unbalanced. Whether in terms of the number of lawyers or the income generated by lawyers, the inter-provincial gap in China is huge. The development of the legal profession also brings out the issue of judicial corruption. From the number of letters and visits related to lawsuits and the National People＇s Congress deputies ＇votes on the reports of the Supreme People＇s Court and the Supreme People＇s Procuratorate, the level of legal corruption can be noted. This＂ problem has become a crucial challenge to the reputation of the legal profession and the judicial creditability of the country. The same amount of attention should be paid to judicial corruption as to the quality of legal services.     

CHINA＇S LATEST MARRIAGE LAW AMENDMENT AND FAMILY PROPERTY： TRADITION AND MODERNITY

China＇s latest Marriage Law amendment illustrates how tradition contributes to China＇s modernity. Traditionally, a house was a necessity for a marriage in China. This is because in ancient China, marriage secured the continuation of the family line and provision for ancestors. In modern China, the one child policy and soaring housing prices collectively force the ＂three families＂ to buy a house for the new couple. However, what happens when the couple divorces？ Shall the house then be considered community property？ The 2011 Judicial Interpretation of the Supreme People ＂s Court of Several Issues on the Application of the Marriage Law of the People＇s Republic of China, provides that where real estate is purchased by the parents of one party, and after the party＇s marriage is registered under the party＇s name, such real estate shall be deemed as a gift given by the parents to the party and the party＇s personal property. This interpretation represents a compromise between tradition and modernity.
The article will firstly introduce the marriage system in ancient China, illustrating that under the doctrine ofli, the real purpose of marriage was to be a bond of love between two （families of differenO surnames. Retrospectively, this secured observance of ancestral rituals in the ancestral temple, and prospectively, continuation of the family line. The house was a necessity for marriage because one of the six ceremonies required for marriage under li was the procession, and then welcome of the bride at the groom ＂s home. （Other ceremonies involved a matchmaker securing a proposal, matching auspicious birthdates, exchanging gifts between the bride＇s and groom＇s families, setting an auspicious wedding date, honoring ancestors and deities, and having an elaborate banquet）.
The article will then analyze the marriage law in the of Republic of China, in which even the post-dynasty marriage law adopted the western marriage system, the strong resistance of the old tradition forced the law-     

Protecting the procedural rights of victim

Criminal procedure law of the People＇s Republic of China prescribed victim the status of procedure, and gave them more procedural rights. But it＇s insufficient. It＇s important to give them more procedural rights, e.g. right of appeal.     

REVIEW OF THE 7TH NATIONAL MEMBERS＇ CONGRESS OF CHINA＇ S LAW SOCIETY

From November 29 to 30, 2013, the 7th National Members＇ Congress of China Law Society was held in Beijing. The leaders of the Cortmmnist Party of China （CPC）, Xi Jinping, Zhang Dejiang,     

INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS,ACADEMIC DEBATES AND LEGAL PRACTICES ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW IN CHINA： 2000--2013

A special system of constitutional review, namely National People＇s Congress Review Model （the NPC Review Model） has been established since the 1982 Constitution. However, this system was criticized for its inactivity and has never been actually activated. After 2000, there are lots of efforts try to improve the system of constitutional review of China, the results of the Qi Yuling case （2001） and the Luoyang seed case （2003） demonstrated that the U.S.-style of constitutional review is not and will not be accepted by the political system of China, while the results of the Sun Zhigang case （2003） and the Tang Fuzhen case （2009） proved that the existing NPC Review model cannot work very well if political leaders refuse to reform it. However, the experiences of the New Model of Parliamentary Sovereignty which was developed from Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canberra （the Australian Capital Territory）, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China after 1980s, showed that a third way to protect human rights in a liberal democracy and to coordinate the relationship between legislature and court in a system of constitutional review. I believe the third way provides a good case for China to reform the existing constitutional review system without abandon its cherished tradition of the system of people ＇s congress.     

PARTY AUTONOMY IN THE APPLICABLE LAW TO RIGHTS IN REM TO MOVABLES UNDER THE CHINESE ACT ON THE LAW APPLICABLE TO CIVIL RELATIONS WITH A FOREIGN ELEMENT： A COMPARATIVE REVIEW

It is widely recognized that a right in rein to movables is to be governed by the law where the movable is located, while party autonomy is confined to the choice of law in contractual matters. Recently there have been calls to extend party autonomy to right in the choice of law in rights in rein to movables. The 2010 Act of the People＇s Republic of China on the Law Applicable to Civil Relations with a Foreign Element （the Act） is a legislative move. The question, however, remains whether it is reasonable for mandatory property law to be left to the choice of parties, in particular in an age when transborder movement of movables is frequent. This paper analyzes the issues of party autonomy and applicable law to rights in rein to movables.     

FOCUS： PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN CHINA EDITOR＇S NOTE

Tort Law of the People＇s Republic of China provided for punitive damages for the first time in Article 47 Chapter 5, although the existing consumer protection law, contract law and intellectual property law contained similar institutions. The direct reason for the introduction of this exotic institution, imported from USA, lies primarily in the Sanlu milk powder scandal Many questions, such as its conformity with the current Chinese legal system, its application, and its likely influence on Chinese adjudication, still remain unclear.     

Development of forensic standards in China: a review

Forensic science is crucial for the administration of justice and case investigation.in China,political-legal organizations,including the courts,public security,procuratorate,and judicial administration,developed their own forensic practices before 2004.As a result,the frequent and repeated appraisals undermined judicial authority and credibility.Thus,a law was published in 2005 to improve the uniform forensic management system by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress,leading to the establishment of the Forensic Administration of the Ministry of Justice in 2006.During this process,the increased accreditation and interflow highlighted the role of consensus in forensic standards for forensic service providers to avoid uncertainty regarding the methods used and interpretation of results.in 2017,a policy document was promulgated again to strengthen the importance of the uniform standards,which also proposed to establish a new national technical committee for the standardization of forensic science by the General Office of the State Council.in 2018,despite the continuing problems concerning uniformity,the Forensic Administration of the Ministry of Justice was merged into the Public Legal Services Administration.Yet,there is still a long way to go for the national technical committee for the standardization of forensic science.This paper analyses the evolution of forensic standards internationally and nationally,discusses the existing problems,and proposes relative solutions.Moreover,it discusses the future of standards development with the deepening of the reformation of both the national standardization and judicial system.     

MACAO＇S LEGAL SYSTEM UNDER GLOBALIZATION AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION： BETWEEN TRADITION AND EVOLUTION

Macao, a former Portuguese colony and now one of only two Special Administrative Regions of the People＇s Republic of China, is undergoing unprecedented socio-economic growth and transformation. Using Macao as an empirical case, the paper examines the challenges of regional integration and globalization on legal theories, identifies how law interacts with other socio-cultural factors, and analyzes the self-reflection and self-adjustments of a legal culture in dynamic and diverse dimensions of time and space. The paper aims to find an innovative approach to discover the progressive pattern of inertia, evolution, survival, diffusion and interaction of a legal tradition in a global context.     

Using court culture to strengthen the administration of trial courts

Managerial culture defines the character of administrative practices in trial courts, shaping the way cases are handled, participants in the legal process are treated, and how a court functions as an institution. In fact, the notion of local legal culture is part of the conventional wisdom. What is missing in such discussions are the benefits of a comprehensive methodological approach to translate rich ideas and hunches into the measurement of court culture. In response, researchers at the National Center for State Courts have developed an analytical framework including a conceptual typology of culture, an instrument for measuring managerial culture and a schema for interpreting results within and between courts. The essay concludes with an invitation for the People＇s Republic of China to adapt the framework to understand the nature of culture in their courts of first instance.     

INNER MONGOLIA QIUSHI REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD. v. HOHHOT CIVIL AIR DEFENSE OFFICE

On September 10th, 2008, the defendant, Hohhot Civil Air Defense Office （hereinafter referred to as HCADO） served Notification of Handling the ＂Joint BUild ＂ Examination Process within a Linnted Time to the plaintiff, Inner Mongolia Qiushi Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. （hereinafter referred to as Qiushi Co. ）, informing that the economically affordable housing, ＂Qiushi fn＇st town＂, recently built by Qiushi Co. did not follow the provisions of Article 22 of the Civil Air Defense Law of the People＇s Repubh＇c of China （Civil Air Defense Law） and Article 45 and 47 of the Regulations on the Administration of the Construction of the Civil Air Defense Project （the Regulations）, which required the construction of an air defense basement used in time of war, and required Qiushi Co. to go to HCADO to handle the ＂joint build＂ process and provide relative materials. On June 18th, 2009, HCADO issued the Written Decision regarding the Air Defense Basement Diverted Building Fee Collected by the Hohhot Civil Air Defense Ofgce （Written Decision） and decided to collect 1,724,600 yuan of diverted building fees from ＂Qiushi first town＂. Qiushi Co. had no objection to the fact that the first town project did not a build 5,518 square meter air defense basement and had no objection on the procedural legitimacy of that Written Decision.     

LEGAL EDUCATION IN CHINA： ACHIEVEMENTS,PROBLEMS AND THE FUTURE （1949-2013）

China＇s legal education had been experiencing a rather tough way of growing up after founding of PRC and did has achieved some achievements in the early days, but the following destruction period of nearly 20 years almost ruined all of them. Since the reform and opening up, China＇s legal education had been rapidly recovering and developing, there had been an unprecedented thriving scene. After constantly summing up experience, reforming and adjustment, China＇s legal education gradually stepped into independent and scientific development mode. But with the same time, behind the prosperity scene, China＇s legal education is problematic both in quantity and in quality. In quantity, the biggest problem of china＇s legal education is its imbalanced development, lies both in regional distribution and in their charging authorities. In quality, there are four serious problems which affect its healthy development： lack of professional education idea; lack of elite education idea; lack of legal ethics education and lack of professional skill education. In the future, China＇s legal education should put more efforts on resolving these problems, that is to say, more efforts should be put on the quantitative balance. Meanwhile, concerning its quality, measures will have to be taken for bringing it back to the essential attributes of legal education, only by so doing can China＇s legal education be incorporated into the mainstream of global legal education culture     

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.     

POLITIC OF LAW OF GROUND WATER EXPLOITATION

One of Indonesia characters is welfare state, reflected in Republic Indonesia Constitution in 1945 （UUD NRI year 1945） on Preamble paragraph 4 mentioning the general welfare is the primary aim of the state. Provision of Article 33 paragraph （2）, （3）, and （4） UUD NRI year 1945 as lives of many people that natural resources inform of water for the greatest prosperity of people＇s and controlled by state. This is in line with the Constitution Act No. 7 year 2004 on water resources, focus on welfare of people and based on the reflection of democracy spirit. Based on the constitution of Local Government Act No. 32 year 2004, the important role to support the achievement of social welfare problems associated with water （ground water）, is crucial. However, the Presidential Decree RI No. 36 year 2010 which provides space for the foreigners to invest in water exploitation orientation, and there was interest~politic of law, so the local government at the beginning prioritize on the welfare of the local people turned into the realm of economic interest to revenue for local government. Based on the statement above, so the problems of people＇s welfare, democracy and justice are neglected.     

CHINA LAW DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2012： PROFESSIONALIZATION OF CHINA＇S LEGAL WORKERS

“China Law Development Report 2012： Professionalization of China ‘s Legal Workers” publishing conference was held on 4 May 2013, in Beijing. This is the fourth report on China Law Development published by Renmin University of China, following Report 2007 on database and indicators, Report 2010 on law-making, and Report 2011 on law-enforcement, Report 2012 focuses on the following aspects according to professor ZHU Jingwen, chief editor of the report.     

RENMIN UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP SERIES （REVIEW 2014） ON ZHANG TAISU AND HIS NEW CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ON CHINA＇S ECONOMIC DECLINE IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

On 25 April 2014, the second Renmin University International Virtual Workshop （RUIVW）, also the inaugural Renmin-Duke Law Workshop, was held in the Renmin Law School. Professor Zhang Taisu from Duke Law School delivered a talk based on his latest work ＂Kinship, Property, and Agricultural Capitalism in Pre-Industrial China and England.＂ By comparing the two types of land transactions, the dian in China and the mortgage in England, Zhang analyzed the cultural norms leading to the differences of the above property rights and its influence on China＇s macroeconomic decline （referred to ＂decline＂）. Scholar participants spoke highly of Zhang＇s work and raised several questions on it. Gao Yangguang emphasized on the distinguished differences between the psychological needs of social groups behind the above property rights and therefore doubted their comparability in this regard. Guo Rui, the host of this workshop, commented on Zhang＇s work from company law perspective. Jiang Dong discussed the definition of ＂capitalism＂ and its role in the causation to decline. Xiong Bingwan put forward another prospective sub-connections between cultural norms and economic outcomes. You Chenjun suggested evaluation the decline from social functions of the property transactions beyond the economic level by giving the example of tan qi, a unique kind of contract in Ming and Qing China. Pan Weijiang, from Beihang University Law School, compared the concept culture in Zhang＇s work to ＂social structure＂ and suggested more explanation for the impact of the Confucian on it.     

CONTENTS

This essay applies Polanyi＇s theory of ＂double movements＂, with an emphasis on mutual transformation between state and society, to analyze China＇s staterebuilding since the economic reform and challenges it faces in the future. This paper argues that since the economic reform and before the recent turn of state governance, state-rebuilding in China has been driven by one single movement： marketization. However, since entering the 21 st century, state-rebuilding has to be undertaken in the tension between a double movement of marketization and self-protection of society which move in two different directions. To respond such a challenge, China must restructure the relationships among state, market, and society.