The Process of Civil Law Codification in China

Abstract

The paper analyzes the process of modern codification of civil law in China, provides a historical overview of the codification of civil law in China, raises the problems of private law codification and analyzes the political, economic and other sources of these problems. It is noted that only criminal (public) law was present in traditional China. Legal traditions based on the rule of criminal law continued for more than 2,000 years until the early years of the twentieth century. China has not embarked on the path of modernizing the legal system and codifying civil law. In 1929-1930, the first Civil code in the history of China was adopted. It was built on the Swiss and German civil codifications model, simultaneously reflecting the experience of the Japanese, French and Soviet codifications of civil law. After the PRC was formed, the stage of extensive borrowing of Soviet socialist law, including civil law, began. However, attempts to codify the law failed, the reasons for which lie in legal nihilism and a lack of necessary attention from the authorities. The transition from an administrative planned economy to a free market one prompted the legislator to temporarily abandon the idea of codifying civil legislation. Instead of one codified law, it was decided to adopt several special ones. In the 21st century, a new stage of codification of civil law in China has begun. In 2002, the fourth draft of the civil code of the PRC was published, which for no apparent reason has sunk into oblivion. In 2014, the process of codification of civil legislation has become more active, and in 2017, part one of the future civil code of the people’s Republic of China was adopted. In accordance with the civil law codification plan in March 2020 the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China should be adopted as a whole.