Subjects:

China, Other Jurisdictions

Contents:

List of Tables - Acknowledgements - List of Abbreviations - The Chinese Struggle for the 'Rule of Law' - The 'Rule of Law' within 'Comparative Legal Culture' - Conceptualisation and Materialisation of 'Human Rights' - Civil Law, 'Civil Society' under 'Socialist Rule of Law?' - Law as the Contractual 'Predicate' of Ownership Rights - Politics and Criminal Law Change under Reform - Hong Kong and the 'Rule of Law' across 'Two Systems?' - Conclusion: Before and After Tainanmen Square - Appendix 1: NPC/NPCSC New Law 1979-92 - Selected English-Chinese Bibliography - Selective Glossary of Chinese Political/Legal Terms - Index

The ""rule of law"" is more than the mere existence and application of law within the sphere of state activity. Contemporary Chinese debate on the ""rule of law"" underlines the limiting of arbitrary government, the materialization of ""human rights"", legal protection of ""rights and interests"", and the principle of equality in the impartial legal mediation of conflicts within society's ""structure of interests"". Based upon China interviews and a comprehensive survey of the domestic press and Chinese-language legal journal materials, this book places pre- and post-Tiananmen Square legal reform in political context. The evolving contents of specific laws across the departments of constitutional, administrative, criminal and civil and economic law are assessed in the light of the politics and intellectual dynamic of China's legal circles in their struggle to create a ""rule of law"".