Economic Law

Author: Zhang Fuqiang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-09-01
Features: The formation and development of economic law have been one of the most noteworthy events in the field of law in the 20th century. Economic law takes economic law as its research object, which, in essence, is law that recognizes and regulates government intervention or coordination of economic activities. It primarily adjusts the economic regulatory relationships that occur during the process of government intervention or coordination of (market) economic activities, while the relationship between government and the market constitutes the focal point of many issues and conflicts in modern society. The importance and irreplaceability of economic law in regulating the operation of modern market economies are thus evident. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, economic law emerged as an independent legal discipline, subsequently taking on the dual historical mission of overcoming and compensating for the "market failure" and "government failure" that neither civil law nor administrative law could address. Unlike civil law and administrative law, economic law does not emphasize the unidirectional protection of private or public rights but instead prioritizes social public interest as its value orientation. Through the balanced coordination of private and public rights, it aims to achieve the value goals of overall fairness and efficiency in society.
After the end of World War II, the world entered an era of unlimited expansion of administrative power. Governments' excessive use of administrative measures to intervene in markets has severely damaged market mechanisms. Modern economic law, therefore, aims to establish a legal order between government and the market, empowering the government to macro-control the national economy and micro-regulate the transaction behaviors of market entities, while strictly limiting the government's regulatory actions within the scope authorized by law. This implies that, in the context of economic globalization, modern governments must, in accordance with the norms of economic law, transform from "powerful governments" to "rule-of-law governments," from "unlimited governments" to "limited governments," and from "regulatory governments" to "service governments."
Joining the WTO has greatly advanced the development of economic law in China and triggered deep reforms in economic law education—naturally involving a series of issues such as teaching content, teaching methods, target students, and training objectives. The reform and improvement of economic law textbooks, however, constitutes a fundamental issue. Although many economic law textbooks have been published across the country, they have effectively advanced the development of economic law textbook construction in China. However, since economic law is a relatively new legal discipline still in the process of continuous development and refinement, economic law textbooks naturally require corresponding revisions, enrichments, and improvements to enable law students to stay updated with the progress and academic frontiers of economic law and to cultivate their ability to apply economic law theory to solve practical socio-economic problems.
In light of this, we organized scholars from institutions such as South China University of Technology, Jinan University, South China Normal University, and South China Agricultural University to write this textbook, Economic Law. After years of conceptualization, planning, organization, writing, and revision, Economic Law has finally been published as the first textbook in the "21st Century National College Law Series." This achievement not only embodies the long-term research insights of the authors but also reflects their spirit of exploration. Whether discussing the origin and development of economic law, its historical mission, fundamental principles, essence and characteristics, value orientation and value goals, objects and methods of regulation, or economic regulatory legal relationships, the authors have proposed new insights and perspectives, drawing on the latest academic achievements while integrating diverse viewpoints.
In brief, this textbook primarily features the following innovations:
(1) New Structure: Existing textbooks are generally divided into four or five parts, including general economic law, economic law subjects, market management law, macroeconomic regulation law, and social security law. This textbook is structured into two parts and three volumes based on the logical needs of economic law: General Economic Law and Special Economic Law, with General Economic Law comprising one volume and Special Economic Law divided into Microeconomic Law and Macroeconomic Law. Microeconomic Law, or market regulation law, includes general and special regulations of market regulation. General market regulation law covers the regulation of market entities and general market operation regulation. Special market regulation law refers to the legal regulation of economic activities in specific market areas, primarily including the legal regulation of three major markets: consumer goods, production materials, and factors. Macroeconomic Law, or macroeconomic regulation law, is also divided into general and special laws, each encompassing various specific legal systems.
(2) New Perspectives: This textbook strives to objectively reflect the essence and connotation of economic law, thus more comprehensively defining economic law as "law that recognizes and regulates government intervention or coordination of domestic economic activities." It emphasizes that the core of economic law is "adjusting the relationship between government and the market," and its mission lies in "solving the problems of market failure and government failure in accordance with the law." This distinguishes economic law from other legal disciplines such as civil law and administrative law, which have distinct objects of regulation and do not overlap with each other. Economic law is not a "comprehensive law." For example, regarding labor law, social security law, environmental law, financial law, and securities law, some civil and commercial law scholars argue that a significant portion of these areas falls under civil and commercial law norms. Previous economic law textbooks included them as a whole, receiving considerable criticism. While we also include them, we strictly adhere to the unique research perspective of economic law—i.e., involving the relationship between government and the market and requiring government regulation in accordance with the law.
(3) New Content: Based on the concept of "law that recognizes and regulates government intervention or coordination of economic activities," all economic activities involving the relationship between government and the market and requiring government regulation are included in our analysis and discussion, thus encompassing concepts and content not covered in other economic law textbooks. For instance, in microeconomic law, we have added general market regulation law, general market operation regulation (including fair trade regulation law and market information regulation law), and special market regulation law (including legal regulation of consumer goods markets, production material markets, and factor markets). In macroeconomic law, we have introduced the division into general and special laws, with the special laws of macroeconomic law including fiscal law, tax law, monetary policy law, income distribution law, industrial policy law, regional economic coordination law, and plan guidance law. Each of these laws can be further subdivided into various legal systems, such as fiscal law, which includes the budget law, fiscal financing law (including bond law and lottery law), government procurement law, fiscal transfer payment law, fiscal revenue and expenditure division law, fiscal investment regulation law, treasury management law, state-owned asset supervision law, and fiscal supervision law.
(4) New Data: We have collected the latest versions of relevant laws, regulations, and policies, with some data updated to July 2005. For example, the market enforcement status of national administrative departments for industry and commerce from January to June 2005, and the announcement issued by the People's Bank of China on July 21, 2005, regarding the reform of the RMB exchange rate mechanism, are all clearly reflected in this textbook.
(5) New Layout and Format: There are also innovations in the arrangement and format. Introductions are provided between chapters, sections, and subsections to succinctly summarize the central content of each section, enabling students to grasp the key points at a glance. "Discussion Questions" are included at the end of each chapter to facilitate post-reading reflection and key point review. At the end of the textbook, three appendices—"Common Terms in Economic Law (Chinese and English)," "Related Websites for Economic Law Research," and "2005 National Judicial Examination Outline (Economic Law)"—are provided for students' reference.
This textbook is the result of collaborative efforts by the writing team. The specific division of chapters is as follows: Chapters 1 to 11 (Professor Zhang Fuqiang); Chapter 12 (Dr. Liang Wenyong); Chapters 13 (Professor Zhu Yikun, Dr. Liu Xiaoyong, and Professor Zhang Fuqiang); Chapters 14 (Master Zou Dongjun and Dr. Liu Hanxia, a graduate student); Chapters 15 (Masters Zou Dongjun, Sun Yuming, and Ren Xue); Chapters 16 (Associate Professor Huang Yuanhua, Dr. Liang Wenyong, and Master Lin Peiyang); Chapters 17 (Associate Professor Huang Yuanhua and Master Cao Xiujuan, a graduate student); Chapters 18 (Master Shen Liping and Master Lu Peihua, a graduate student); Chapters 19 (Masters Zou Dongjun, Dr. Yuan Dasong, Master Li Chunfang, Dr. Ye Shan, a graduate student, and Dr. Liang Wenyong); Chapters 20 (Dr. Liu Hanxia); Chapters 21 (Dr. Liang Wenyong, Associate Professor Guan Yonghong, and Master Yu Dong); Chapters 22 and 25 (Master Ye Shan); Chapters 23 (Associate Professor Liu Yong and Master Ye Shan); Chapters 24 (Dr. Yuan Dasong); Chapters 26 (Dr. Liu Hanxia, Dr. Liang Wenyong, and Master Ye Shan); Chapters 27 (Master Lu Peihua and Master Yang Jing, a graduate student); Chapters 28 (Master Zhang Boyu); English Table of Contents and Summary (Professor Zhang Fuqiang, Master Sun Yuming, and Master Yang Jing); Appendices (Dr. Liang Wenyong and Chang Jing).
On this occasion, allow me to express my profound respect to the masters and peers in the field of economic law. Many of the ideas and insights in this textbook originate from or are inspired by their research. At the same time, I sincerely thank all members of the writing team for their unity, cooperation, innovation, and willingness to sacrifice. It is through their hard work and dedication that this textbook has been brought to fruition. While the initial concept originated from Professor Zhu Yikun, Dr. Liang Wenyong, and myself, the final outcome is the result of the creativity and collaboration of all authors. Especially during the later stages of revision, Dr. Liang Wenyong engaged in countless exchanges and communications with the authors and repeatedly revised parts of the initial drafts, investing significant effort. The authors' active cooperation and tireless revisions also made outstanding contributions to the timely completion of this textbook. I was responsible for the overall editing, focusing on the uniformity of the textbook's format and style as well as the refinement of the language, while preserving the authors' academic perspectives as much as possible.
Finally, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to President Yang Ke of the Legal Application Publishing Branch of the Law Press, as well as the editors Yang Yang and Qiao Zhiwei, for their strong support, which made the publication of this textbook possible. Without a doubt, due to our theoretical level and academic horizons, this textbook inevitably contains some errors or shortcomings. We sincerely hope to receive criticism and corrections from the masters, peers, and readers so that we can promptly make improvements.
Zhang Fuqiang
Autumn of 2005
Recorded at Tianyu Lodge by the Baiyun Mountains