Property Rights: Growth and Formation

Author: Cui Jianyuan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The property rights system depends on the requirements of a country's basic economic system and even its basic political system, reflecting national traditions and culture. Therefore, it has relatively many characteristics; it reflects the social economic life relationships, and China has been reforming continuously. As a result, property rights in China have the characteristics of being in the process of formation, evolving patterns, and exploring target models. As the saying goes, announced rules must be treated as tentative because the numerous constantly changing facts they will apply to are unpredictable. The China Renmin University Press has shown great favor and invited me to write multiple times, yet I have never been able to produce outstanding works. The reason for this was that from 1997 to 2000, I was busy with official duties and learning English, making it difficult to focus. After 2000, I was deeply engrossed in the exploration of quasi-property rights, leaving no time for other matters. The press did not give up and was still willing to edit and publish the three-volume civil law selection, "General Principles of Civil Law: Concrete and Abstract," "Property Rights: Growth and Formation," and "Obligations: Reference and Development." Director Li Wenbin had lofty ambitions, skillfully planned, and made the final decision; Editor Du Yufeng devoted his thoughts and efforts to organizing the material, ultimately completing this book. With deep gratitude, I sincerely express my thanks!
The property rights system depends on the requirements of a country's basic economic system and even its basic political system, reflecting national traditions and culture. Therefore, it has relatively many characteristics; it reflects the social economic life relationships, and China has been reforming continuously. As a result, property rights in China have the characteristics of being in the process of formation, evolving patterns, and exploring target models. As the saying goes, announced rules must be treated as tentative because the numerous constantly changing facts they will apply to are unpredictable. Correction means growth. It is the lifeblood of law. Accordingly, the title of the property rights volume is named "Property Rights: Growth and Formation."
As a right obtained to acquire property rights or rights equivalent to the value of property rights, obligations reflect the legal form of property circulation relationships and have the characteristic of being universalized, with more common norms and increasingly internationalizing. In the construction of the law of obligations, China is a latecomer and faces the environment of global economic integration. Therefore, China cannot discard the existing achievements of human civilization and start from scratch to create the law of obligations. The wise choice is to learn from the proven successful rules and theories of the law of obligations, combining them with China's actual conditions to translate the rules and even the system of obligations. On the other hand, as the economy develops and society progresses, obligations become richer, and research deepens. This determines that the innovation of China's obligation system and theories is both necessary and possible. "Obligations: Reference and Development" reflects these phenomena and ideas.
Essentially, the general principles of civil law are abstract; in terms of their formation, the general principles of civil law originate from the generalization of specific norms; in terms of application, the general principles of civil law are often applied to individual cases. My own study and research on the general principles of civil law also involve the issue of being specific and abstract. In light of this, I specifically grouped the research results on the general principles of civil law under the title "General Principles of Civil Law: Concrete and Abstract."
Given my understanding of civil law has undergone a process of deepening from superficial to profound, refining and filtering, it is necessary to explain how to treat past works. I have deleted several immature drafts and provided comments on the retained works, making preliminary expectations about the methods and prospects of studying civil law. Since I have always corrected the existing electronic versions whenever I encountered new materials or had new ideas, reverting to the original state would be time-consuming and inefficient. It is better to present the current state, which can also reduce the potential for misleading young readers. For the convenience of readers, self-evaluations have been placed after the corresponding works.