Chinese and Comparative Law Series – serie

Currently, China is drafting its new Civil Code. Against this background, the Chinese legal community has shown a growing interest in various legal and legislative ideas from around the world. Within this context, the present book aims at providing the necessary historical and comparative legal perspectives. It concentrates on substantive private law and civil procedure, both in China and in other jurisdictions. These perspectives are of considerable importance for the present codification work. Additionally, the book is dedicated to commemorating the centennial of the first Western-influenced and civil law-oriented Civil Code of China, the Da Qing Min Lü Cao An of 1911. The following topics are addressed: property law, contract law, tort law and civil procedure. The book also contains contributions on codification experiences in Europe and on the concept of codification in general. The topics are discussed by leading Chinese and international scholars. Most of the Chinese contributors have taken part in preparing the Chinese Draft Civil Code.The book is the outcome of a conference organized by the Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law (RCCL), School of Law, City University of Hong Kong, in October 2010.

In Hong Kong's Legislature Under China's Sovereignty: 1998-2013 Dr Gu Yu thoroughly analyses how Hong Kong’s legislature has impacted the law-making process as well as the financial control and supervision of the executive branch of the government. The political cleavage in Hong Kong seen in recent years has affected the level of Legco’s autonomy in terms of leadership, rules, committee autonomy and control over the legislative agenda. Given the weakened autonomy of Legco and the decline of moderate forces in both the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps, the role of Legco as a collective actor of checks and balances against the executive branch has been weakened. This book will appeal to both academics and practitioners whose work involves the relationship between the legislature and the executive branch in the HKSAR.

Corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR/CER) can be understood as practices which voluntarily extend beyond mere compliance with mandatory social and environmental standards. Corporate social and environmental responsibility: Another road to China’s sustainable development, by Mengxing Lu, contributes to the current debate of CSR/CER by providing a legal and economic analysis of CSR/CER and its relationship with regulation. Although the development of CSR/CER is at an early juncture in China, it is nevertheless a prominent topic for Chinese policy makers and business leaders alike. By depicting the landscape of CSR/CER in China, Corporate social and environmental responsibility: Another road to China’s sustainable development successfully demonstrates the vast potential for CSR/CER’s contribution to China’s sustainable development.

In Self-determination and Minority Rights in China, Linzhu Wang examines the rights of China’s minorities from the perspective of self-determination. The book offers an insight into the ethnic issues in contemporary China, by examining the principle of self-determination in shaping China’s ethnic grouping and appraising the rights of the minorities and their limits. Based on a comprehensive survey of the practice of self-determination in the Chinese context and the Regional Ethnic Autonomy regime, the author seeks to answer the questions of how the ethnic policies and laws have come to be, why they are problematic, and what can be done to promote minority rights in China.

In Road Traffic Liability in China: A View from Law and Economics, Yu Yan provides an in-depth analysis of the Chinese road traffic liability system, as well as other alternative accident prevention schemes from a view of law and economics. The analysis refers to the functioning of the system both on paper and in practice. The conclusion shows that the current Chinese traffic liability system can only achieve partial deterrence, and that the problems of under-compensation and insufficient risk-spreading seem to be serious, at least in the economically underdeveloped regions. Based on these findings, Yu Yan suggests specific legislative changes to be taken for the policymakers to improve the system.

The challenges courts face today all over the world can only be solved in close cooperation between judges and academics which crosses national borders. The anthology brings judges and academics together for a dialogue on judicial reforms. The book presents contributions by the judges on their judicial systems (China, Germany, Slovenia, England and Wales and Norway). The contributions by the academics take up different themes which have emerged in the country reports: The topics include comparative, normative and organisational perspectives on national court systems as well as international perspectives on courts as guarantors of individual rights in an increasingly globalised rule-of-law framework.

This book explains the details and underlying thinking of many major reforms to Chinese law and legal practice that have taken place since 2013. It draws widely on laws and regulations, policies, cases, official statistics as well as the latest Chinese and foreign literature. The informed analysis answers intriguing questions such as why China runs the world’s largest database of court judgments without recognising any precedent, or why the number of judges was cut by 40% despite a more than doubled caseload. Ultimately it offers a new approach on how to understand Chinese law and legal reforms in the contemporary world.

Digital advancements are changing the face of international dispute resolution. This book examines the impact of digitalization and new technologies on international arbitration, discussing both advantages and challenges. It seeks to answer the question of whether international law in the field of international commercial arbitration is keeping pace with technological change. It takes a fresh look at issues that have recently emerged in the international arbitration landscape by focusing on the innovative use of artificial intelligence, particularly in relation to blockchain and ODR. Against this background, the Chinese solutions are worth analyzing and watching.