Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2014

The Unity of Private Law in Historical Perspective and the Future of the Civil Code

(Abstract)

Yi Jiming

China has a long-standing tradition of codification. The unity of private law should be sought in the three strands of the historicity of law, rationality in private law and the laws governing the growth of private rights. As the successor to and amendment of the Civil Law (Draft) of 2002, a “Nine Part Civil Law” or “Civil Law in Nine Chapters” suited to Chinese conditions can be drawn up through amendments. The nine parts are, in sequence, the General Principles of Civil Law; Marriage and Family Law; Law of Succession; Property Law; Intellectual Property Law; Contract Law; Labor Contract Law; Tort Law and Law of the Application of Law for Foreign-related Civil Relations. With this as the goal, we can take a four-step legislative approach: firstly, forming a uniform Marriage and Family Law by integrating the Marriage Law and the Adoption Law; secondly, incorporating the Labor Contract Law into the civil code as an independent chapter; thirdly, incorporating the Intellectual Property Law into the civil code as an independent chapter; and fourthly, amending the General Principles of Civil Law to unify personality rights, the general principles of property rights (of debt), the general principles of commercial affairs, etc. A civil code formed on this basis will possess historicity, consistency and temporality, and will become an important component of the iteration of Chinese civil life and the reshaped Chinese legal system.