Civil Law Theory of Private Rights in Modern Chinese Civil Law

Author: Yu Jiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: This book discusses the research status of the theory of private rights (privaterights) in civil law during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China (1990-1949). In the early 20th century, the Chinese people urgently sought national independence and prosperity by emulating Western constitutionalism. As a result, modern Western law was transplanted domestically through constitutional movements and eventually replaced traditional Chinese jurisprudence. During this period, the transplantation of law primarily drew on Japanese experience, with German law being the main object of transplantation. As an important branch of Western law, civil law was systematically introduced to China during this time. Correspondingly, key concepts in civil law, such as "personality" and "private rights," along with their hermeneutics, were largely formed. By 1911, with the help of Japanese scholars, the "Draft Civil Code of the Great Qing" was issued. This draft laid the foundation for the study of private rights and their rules in the following two decades. After the Republic of China was established, the study of civil law continued to develop. Theories of private rights, such as property rights and personality rights, were implemented in judgments across various courts. In university law schools or specialized schools of law and politics, the theory of private rights was systematically taught. In the early 20th century, Western law internally examined extreme individualism, and the theory of social interests emerged as the mainstream doctrine. As this theory was regarded as a Western new trend and the direction of 20th-century legal development, it gradually became the mainstream doctrine in Chinese law after the 1920s, and so on.