Suchergebnisse

This article surveys the remarkable transformation of law and legal education in China in the past few years. Not long after the Gang of Four was toppled in 1976, a long-term legal development plan was adopted. Its steady implementation has led to widespread codification, an extension of courts, a restoration and expansion of the legal profession, an ambitious and popular legal education program, and substantial growth in formal legal education. Previously an authoritarian political tradition and a preference for mediation over litigation had retarded the development of a formal and autonomous legal system in China. Today, however, the popular demand for stability and justice, the need for legal rules and procedures to improve economic efficiency, and the desire to attract foreign technology and investment serve as powerful motivations for strengthening the legal system. The resulting need for more legal specialists has spawned more than 30 new law schools, along with a growing program of legal education exchange with the United States and other countries.

A history of Chinese law and justice from the imperial era to the post-Mao era, the text addresses the evolution and function of law codes and judicial practices in China's long history and examines the transition from traditional laws and practices to their modern counterparts in the twentieth century and beyond.

A frequently discussed theory about the nature and function of traditional Chinese law
claims that, in traditional China, law was no more than a model, with little practical
applicability. This theory seems to be still dominant.On a different occasion in the past, I presented some doubts about this theory of law as
a "model", based on impressions I received from reading through a body of judgments from
Qing dynasty lawsuits.

How can the law be employed pragmatically to facilitate development and underpin illiberal principles? The case of contemporary China shows that the law plays an increasingly important role in the country's illiberal approach to both domestic and China-related global affairs, which has posed intellectual challenges in understanding it with reference to conventional, Western legal concepts and theories. This book provides a systematic exploration of the sources of Chinese law as pragmatically reconfigured in context, aiming to fill the gap between written and practised law. In combination with fieldwork investigations, it conceptualises various formal and informal laws, including the Constitution, congressional statutes, supreme court interpretations, judicial documents, guiding cases and judicial precedents. Moreover, it engages a theoretical analysis of legal instrumentalism, illuminating how and why the law works as an instrument for authoritarian legality in China, with international reflections on other comparable regimes

While recent policies issued by the government advocate the return of overseas Chinese and the attraction of skilled foreign nationals to the country, the People's Republic of China still rejects the recognition of dual nationality. This article aims to present scenarios of de facto dual nationality, resulting from the implementation of Chinese nationality law. It discusses three main scenarios: children who acquire Chinese and foreign nationality by birth, former Chinese citizens who do not cancel their household registrations, and Chinese officials who naturalise elsewhere but yet are denied the right to voluntary expatriation by the Chinese state and are treated as single nationals. These scenarios are examples of how the non-recognition of dual nationality under Chinese law conflicts with the interest of individuals. Legal and procedural inconsistencies of the Chinese state, too, have created inconsistent implementation of nationality law. Public administration of nationality law and the Chinese household registration (hukou) system are often conflicting, and China's diplomatic efforts in holding up single nationality as the sole legal rule have contrasted with its focus on maintaining control over former citizens who naturalise elsewhere. The authors conclude that enhanced cooperation between authorities will make problems related to the enforcement of the single nationality rule more obvious, while underlying major problems persist, such as the conflicting implementation of nationality and household registration or inconsistent interpretation of the scope of control of the state over its former citizens. The authors suggest that the possibility to apply for permanent residence and the rights attached to it should be enhanced to safeguard participation in social security and political life, especially for foreign children and skilled foreign nationals. (China/GIGA)