The Constitution of China
- Constitution of the People's Republic of ChinaAn open-access version of the 1982 Constitution as amended up to 2004 (the current Constitution) in English is available on the official National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China website
For commentary on the Constitution, see:
- Kluwer Law OnlineProvides up to date full-text access to English content on Chinese Constitutional Law. Content includes:
• General Introduction (2016)
• Part I. The Form of Government and the Political System of PRC (2013)
• Part II. Form of Government of PRC (2013)
• Part III. Fundamental Rights and Freedom of Citizens of PRC (2016)
• Part IV. National Symbols (2016) - HeinOnlineWorld Constitutions Illustrated on HEIN Online includes:
• All constitutions and fundamental laws of China, from the Organic Law of the Chinese Empire in 1833 to the current 1982 Constitution as amended in 2004 - all in both Chinese and English.
• Commentary, scholarly articles and a bibliography of select Constitutional works.
Books and Articles
The Constitution of China: a contextual analysis by Call Number: KT 4231 ZHANPublication Date: Hart, 2012
- Constitutional Transplant in the People's Republic of China: The Influence of the Soviet Model and Challenges in the Globalization EraFan Jizeng, (2015) I Brics Law Journal 50-100 - full text article available on SSRN.
Judicial Interpretation of Legislation
Legislation can be judicially interpreted without a specific case necessarily before the court. These interpretations provide lawyers, judges and researchers with invaluable information on the state of a legal issue or a disputed area of law.
- PKU Law (UniMelb staff & student access)Individual pieces of legislation may be found via the Laws & Regulations menu.
About the Legislative process
As court judgments do not have precedential value in China, most legal research will be based on legislation and administrative regulations.
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China authorises both a legislative and an administrative hierarchy for the central and local governments to enact laws. The Constitution also provides for different legal effect for laws enacted by different levels of legislative bodies or administrative agencies.
China’s legal system covers laws that fall under seven categories: the Constitution and Constitution-related, civil and commercial, administrative, economic, social, and criminal laws and the law on lawsuit and non-lawsuit procedures.
China’s legal system covers laws at three levels: state laws, administrative regulations and local statutes.
The hierarchy of Chinese legislatures:
- The National People's Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee: Constitution and Laws
- The State Council: Administrative Regulations
- Local People's Congresses: Local Regulations, Autonomous Regulations, and Specific Regulations
- Ministries of the State Council: Departmental Rules
- Local People's Government: Local Rules
- The Central Military Commission: Military Regulations and Rules
National Legislation is passed by the NPC and typically provides the overall foundation of the Chinese legal system. For example, the NPC passes all civil, criminal and contract laws. The NPC also promulgates all Primary and Implementation Regulations. Local governments may also implement their own regulations. Legislative power is granted to various national and local administrations, which promulgate regulations according to the scope determined by the NPC.
Chinese laws in Chinese
Subscription Resources (UniMelb staff & student access)
- Lexis ChinaProvides legislation, regulations and selected policy documents in Chinese.
- PKU Law (Chinese version)The Chinese version of PKU Law (also known as Beida Fabao – Law & Regulations Chinese Database) is far more comprehensive than the English version. It includes all the laws and regulations and other legal information promulgated by the Chinese central government and most of the local governments since 1949. It also includes:
- Detailed annotations for more than 100 Chinese laws.
- Links to the laws and regulations mentioned within laws or regulations, as well as links to relevant laws, regulations, cases and law review articles.
- More information on the Chinese content of PKU Law.
Chinese legislation in English
There is no comprehensive or up-to-date collection of Chinese laws in English on open access websites. Subscription databases have the best collections. Note that translated laws are never official.
Subscription Resources (UniMelb staff & student access)
- Lexis ChinaLexis China offers English translations of current, expired and draft legislation from national, provincial, regional and municipal jurisdictions.
- PKU LawThe English version of this platform contains legal information intentionally tailored to the needs of foreigners and foreign organisations working in China.
It includes:
• Laws & Regulations: comprises over 20,000 laws, regulations, rules, judicial interpretations, local regulations, and local rules in more than ninety legal areas.
• All laws adopted by the National People's Congress (NPC) and the NPC Standing Committee from 1949 to the present.
• All the administrative regulations promulgated by the State Council from 1949 to the present.
• Most of the important administrative rules or orders promulgated or approved by the agencies under the State Council and independent agencies such as the Securities Regulatory Commission.
• Gazettes (titles only) - browsable and searchable index of official publications containing regulations and documents related to the legislative history of regulations, such as explanations, reports, deliberations, speeches, circulars and notices.
• Major WTO legal rules relating to China. - ServicesMore information on the English contents of PKU Law.
- Foreign Law GuideAn alphabetical list of Chinese laws by topic - each topic provides links to full text laws and gazettes (in Chinese only).
Open Access Resources
- Database of Laws and RegulationsThe National People's Congress Database of Laws and Regulations is a full-text collection of the laws enacted by the NPC and its Standing Committee and administrative regulations by the State Council. It can be searched or browsed
- State Council of the People's Republic of ChinaThe English language website of the State Council of the People's Republic of China contains English translations of nearly 40 major national laws and regulations (mostly related to doing business in China), and an up to date list (titles only, not full text) of the State Council Gazettes from 2000 to current.
- China Law TranslateThe China Law Translate website provides translations of Chinese legislation into English. This is 'crowd-sourced' database, like Wikipedia, where individuals translate a law. It is a well respected and up to date resource, but currently quite incomplete.
- Laws of the People's Republic of ChinaVia AsianLII, this database contains an A to Z list of many laws of the PRC derived mainly from government websites including the Laws and Regulations pages of the China Court (Supreme Peoples' Court). Please note that this database has not been updated since 2008.