Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 1, 2024

The Function of Socialist Core Values in Civil Judgments

(Abstract)

Yu Fei

The socialist core values in Article One of the Civil Code can serve as a value repository in the inner system of China’s civil law. When practice brings demands, appropriate value elements can be selected thence, and some of their suitable content can be captured and transformed into civil law values. Through value standardization, new conceptual civil law principles can be formed to handle practical disputes and promote the development of the internal system of civil law in China. The socialist core values function both as social effects and as judicial facilitation in civil judgments. Their social effect function can be divided into two sets of circumstances. Firstly, they constitute the legislative grounds on which the judgment is based, and secondly, their advocacy is the social effect to be expected from the adjudication of cases according to law. Specifically, judicial facilitation functions can be divided into three types: explanatory functions, supplementary functions, and corrective functions. The performance of each function has strict requirements and procedural controls.