Criminal Law Interpretations. Volume 9

Author: Chen Xingliang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: On the evening of April 28, 2005, I gave a lecture on "The Judicialization of the Principle of Legality" at the Law School of Beihang University. During the Q&A session that followed, an audience member asked me this question: Why are Chinese legal scholars now increasingly focusing on judicial issues, and what is the academic significance of this? I answered as follows: The shift in the academic perspective of Chinese legal scholars from focusing on legislation to focusing on the judiciary reflects the historical process of China's rule-of-law development. China's rule-of-law construction has evolved from a legislative-centered approach aimed at solving the problem of "no law to go by" to a judicial-centered approach aimed at solving the problem of "law must be followed." In the 1980s, China began its rule-of-law construction. This period saw China emerging from the "Cultural Revolution," and social life was largely in a state of "no law to go by." Under these circumstances, China launched a large-scale legislative movement marked by the promulgation of the 1979 Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law. Here, I use the term "movement" to indicate that the legislative activities involved unprecedented numbers of laws and a prolonged duration. Due to China's period of social transformation, with its dramatic changes in social life, the law had to be amended accordingly. After the first round of large-scale legislation in the 1980s, a second round of large-scale legislative activities, primarily focused on legal amendments, began in the late 1990s. Although the laws formulated may not be perfect, they basically resolved the problem of "no law to go by," greatly advancing the development of China's rule of law. However, as legislative activities were completed, the importance of the judiciary became increasingly prominent. Only through effective judicial activities can laws be applied to resolve various social disputes and fulfill their role in real life. In this context, the incompatibility between China's judicial system and the goals of the rule of law gradually became evident, leading to the launch of judicial system reform. Although judicial system reform has not yet been fully completed, it is precisely through this reform that scholars' attention has shifted toward the judiciary. It can be said that the shift from focusing on legislation to focusing on the judiciary reflects not only the progress of China's rule-of-law development but also the genuine theoretical self-awareness of Chinese scholars. Criminal Law Case Studies is an academic effort aimed at advancing the rule of law in China's judiciary, with a particular focus on criminal law cases and interpretations. Although the content of this volume primarily concerns criminal judicial issues, the authors all explore them from a high level of legal theory, making the work highly academic. In the "Studies on Specific Crimes" section, Zhou Guangquan's article "Research on Fraud" provides a detailed analysis of fraud, which is of great significance for understanding the essential characteristics of the crime. The article breaks down fraudulent behavior into the following four stages: (1) fraudulent conduct; (2) the victim's mistake; (3) disposition behavior; and (4) property damage. For the criminal, fraudulent conduct is the action taken, while the victim's mistake is the subjective misrecognition caused by the fraudulent conduct. For the victim, disposition behavior is based on the subjective mistake, such as handing over property, and property damage is merely the result of this disposition behavior. It is clear that fraudulent behavior is composed of the actions of both the criminal and the victim. Only in this way can the crime of fraud be properly understood.