Linguistic Brilliance: Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics

Hamish Mccardle

doi:10.4236/blr.2019.102017

Abstract

Rule of law discourse has been excited in recent years with China’s reemergence as a state with global influence and its own interpretation of rule of law; a socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. If rule of law is to become a main theme of China’s socialist justice system building in the next ten-year period, then some of the changes will necessarily reach well beyond China’s internal system, potentially internationally. In terms of China’s approach, it is possible to understand that developments of rule of law are being made with due recognition of exactly how much implementation work is actually required to shift the country forward. China’s progress towards a socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics will almost certainly be slow, measured and most importantly completed on China’s terms, not the West’s terms.

Highlights

Rule of Law, Socialist Rule of Law, Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics, China’s Constitutional Development, China’s Socialist Democracy
Most countries around the world adopt or are striving towards rule of law (World Justice Project, 2017-2018), and China is a good example because it is seeking a path of further development of rule of law, but with one special qualification; it will be a rule of law with Chinese characteristics
We need to bring into being a socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics so as to ensure there are laws to abide by for the carrying on of state affairs and social life; this is a precondition and foundation for us to implement the fundamental principle of the rule of law in all respects, and an institutional guarantee for China’s development and progress.”

Summary

Introduction

“Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!”. This is a recurring theme relevant to the evolution of rule of law in both a Chinese and Western context. At a similar point in ancient history yet thousands of miles away in Greece, the philosopher Plato wrote of a state led by a benevolent monarch who could dispense fair justice with an even hand; but were Plato’s musings a rule of law, or an imaginary state where fair minded rulers ruled the rules?. The attractiveness of rule of law is widely acknowledged, and it holds in that both the Chinese and Western view of rule of law there is agreement that a system of law is important to govern a nation’s affairs, as opposed to arbitrary decisions by individual government officials or rulers. While rule of law reform is recognized as challenging, and with results sometimes unclear, it is because of its universal appeal that it continues to be up-held

McCardle DOI

A Change with Big Implications

Conclusion