Chinese Law and Legal Reform: Where to from Here?

Abstract

An increasing number of academics, in and outside China, have expressed unprecedented pessimism or dismissiveness regarding China’s legal reforms under the leadership of Xi Jinping, especially with regard to the future direction of the reforms. These are such, despite the continuing, extensive legal reforms which were launched in 2013/2014 and continue till today. This article takes a contextual approach to examining several aspects of legal development that are important to the establishment of a rule of law in China. It analyses the various emerging trends in Xi’s “New Era” that seem to have set off alarms of retreat from politico-legal reforms that were initially launched in 1978. This article concludes that, if Xi’s China is entering a “New Era”, this new era, as far as legal reforms are concerned, is likely to be one regressing from, rather than progressing towards, establishing a genuine rule of law. While the pace and path will be uncertain and difficult to predict, many of the politico-legal reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping, developed by his successors, and theorised by no less than three generations of legal scholars have ended.

Keywords: China; law reform; rule of law; New Era

JEL Classification: K00