China Codifies - The First Book of the Civil Code between Western Models to Chinese Characteristics

Authors: Marina Timoteo

ABSTRACT

On 15 March 2017 the first book of the Chinese Civil Code, whose definitive processing is scheduled for 2020, has been approved. This is a long-awaited achievement, whose starting point dates back to the early twentieth century, when the first draft of a Civil Code inspired by European models was prepared. The project of Civil Code in China has been part of a long lasting and complex process of legal reforms characterized by a vast circulation of foreign legal models, especially in the last few decades, and at the same time, by the emerging of the issue of local identity and cultural differentiation. The making of the Civil Code, the Western model par excellence for legal reforms, thus represents an interesting observatory of the evolution of the dynamics of the relations between local and foreign elements. This will be the main line of reflection along which this study will be developed.

Keywords: Chinese Civil Code – German Civil Code Model – Legal Transplants – Western Legal Tradition – Chinese Characteristics

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