Law Commons^™

Discussion At Second U.S.-China Rule Of Law Dialogue, Stanley B. Lubman

Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies

Professor Cheng analyzes the foundation and structure of the present configuration of Chinese legal institutions and its desirable future in a very small number of pages--- a brave and suggestive approach. (I am avoiding the term “Chinese legal system” for reasons that will be clear.) She begins by noting NPC Chairman Wu Banguo’s recent statement that China has now created “a socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics” (hereafter SSLCC).

A Populist Threat To China's Courts?, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Is the Chinese party-state too responsive to public opinion? In the case of the courts, this may be the case. Western literature has devoted extensive attention to the problems in the Chinese legal system, in particular in the courts, describing a system that continues to be undermined by a range of problems, from corruption to lack of competence to continued Communist Party intervention. Likewise, existing literature describes a legal system that often is unresponsive to individual demands for justice. In this chapter, I examine another possibility: that one impediment to the development of courts that are able to protect individual …

Watchdog Or Demagogue? The Media In The Chinese Legal System, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past decade, the Chinese media have emerged as among the most influential actors in the Chinese legal system. As media commercialization and increased editorial discretion have combined with growing attention to social and legal problems, the media have gained incentives to expand their traditional mouthpiece roles in new directions. As a result, the media have emerged as one of the most effective and important avenues of citizen redress. Their role in the legal system, however, has also brought them increasingly into conflict with China's courts.

This Article examines the implications of the media's roles in the Chinese legal …

Autonomy Through Separation?: Environmental Law And The Basic Law Of Hong Kong, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

One hundred days after taking office as Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR) of the People's Republic of China, Tung Chee-hwa pledged both to take steps to improve Hong Kong's environment, and to increase coordination of environmental policy with officials in neighboring Guangdong Province. Tung's comments marked a rhetorical shift from environmental policy in British Hong Kong: eight years earlier, the Hong Kong government's first White Paper on environmental policy, Pollution in Hong Kong – A Time to Act, made only passing mention of China. Yet the White Paper was not alone in …