Codex, Customs, and Judicial Practices (A Comparison between the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China)

Author: Huang Zongzhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: This book is a specialized study on the law and judicial practices during the Qing Dynasty and the Republican period in China. It is divided into three parts: Introduction; Part I, from Qing law to Nationalist law; Part II, a comparison of civil legal systems in the Qing Dynasty and the Nationalist period. Part I consists of three chapters, introducing the emergence and formation of the Nationalist civil law, while Part II comprises seven chapters, comparing the civil legal systems of the Qing Dynasty and the Nationalist period from aspects such as property rights, land surface rights, debts, support, and marriage. The eleventh chapter, Conclusion, provides a summary. The book follows two threads: one is to answer how the civil legal system in China changed and remained the same from the Qing Dynasty to 1949; the other is to examine judicial practices during the Qing and Republican periods, refuting the traditional notion of "good people avoiding officials" and clarifying that most ordinary citizens used legal means to protect their legitimate rights during this time, and that most magistrates and judges acted in accordance with the law.