Overview of the Draft Civil Code of the New China (Volumes I, II, and III)

Author: He Qinhua, Li Xiuching, Chen Yi (editors)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: The birth of the world's first bourgeois civil code, the 1804 French Civil Code, took only a mere four months. The compilation of the world's first socialist civil code, the 1922 Soviet Civil Code, also took only four years. Even the 1898 Japanese Civil Code and the 1900 German Civil Code, which were considered to have suffered multiple setbacks, a bumpy journey, and lengthy duration, still took over 20 years from drafting to promulgation and implementation. However, more than 50 years after the founding of New China, we have yet to establish a unified civil code. Is it that Chinese legislators lack legal expertise? Is it that Chinese legislators lack dedication and professional ethics? The answer is clearly no. The data compiled in this book shows that as early as the beginning of 1955, less than six years after the founding of New China, our legislative workers had already drafted a batch of civil code drafts. The reason why China has delayed the promulgation and implementation of the civil code and why the wisdom of Chinese legislative workers has failed to bear fruit in the form of a legal code lies primarily in the various economic and political upheavals and transformations encountered during the growth of New China over these 50-plus years. Regarding this point, the editors of this book have already provided a detailed analysis in their relevant works, which will not be elaborated upon here. The documents compiled in this book, however, can help readers further understand and appreciate the profound impact of these upheavals and transformations on the process of Chinese civil legislative development. The civil code drafts compiled in this book range from the first draft, the "Draft General Principles of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" dated October 5, 1955, to the last draft, the "Discussion Draft General Principles of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" dated July 10, 1985. The book as a whole compiles a total of 96 drafts, including both the general principles and the specific provisions of the civil code. The documentary materials compiled in this book have never been publicly published. Some of the materials were printed in small quantities and distributed to experts in various regions and units for comments, while others were merely handwritten drafts that were only accessible to a very limited number of people. Therefore, the documentary materials in this book are extremely valuable. We have made these materials publicly available to meet the needs of academic research and to contribute, in our own small way, to the development and prosperity of China's civil legislation and civil law studies. As for how we obtained these documentary materials, it was primarily the result of the editors' long-term efforts in collecting them from various sources. On this occasion of the publication of this book, we extend our sincere gratitude to our friends who provided the materials. Some drafts in this book are printed, but the original drafts collected by the editors have been circulated among relevant legislative personnel. During this process, some provisions were altered or deleted, such as the deletion of the word "" (meaning "the" or "that") in the provision on page 428, paragraph 13 of the first volume: "Rent should be calculated and paid in Chinese yuan," where the word "" was removed by a reader. To preserve the original form of the drafts, the editors have restored the word "" and added a footnote below the page: "The original draft deletes '' here." This phenomenon occurs frequently, so it is specially explained here. At the same time, the use of terms such as "," "," "," "," "," as well as dates, punctuation, and numerals (such as "," "," and Arabic numerals) in most drafts is not standardized, but to maintain the original form of the drafts, the editors have made no changes. In places where the handwriting is unclear, we have used brackets or ellipses to indicate the missing text. Additionally, some drafts have handwritten annotations on the side of the provisions, and we have also provided explanations for these in the footnotes. As legal historians, our expertise and knowledge in civil law are not profound, and thus this book may contain various shortcomings and deficiencies. We sincerely hope for the forgiveness of our colleagues in civil law academia and welcome readers to offer many suggestions so that they can be corrected in future editions. The ability to publish this book in a relatively short period of time also owes much to the leadership of Legal Publishing House and the efficient work of the editorial team. We extend our gratitude to them as well. He Qinhua at East China University of Political Science and Law, August 30, 2002