'Paradox of English Land Law' ? an enlightenment to Land Law reform in China

• Author: HONG Qiao
• Pages: 123-134

FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA

VOL. 11 MARCH 2016 NO. 1

DOI 10.3868/s050-005-016-0007-0

ARTICLE

“PARADOX OF ENGLISH LAND LAW” — AN ENLIGHTENMENT TO LAND LAW

REFORM IN CHINA

HONG Qiao*

Abstract Since the founding of New China in 1949, the land law system with Chinese

characteristics has been formed based on various practices, inter alia, the evolution of

the rural land law system from the agrarian reform to the cooperative and people’s

communes and further to the household contract responsibility system, which made

historical contributions to the development of Chinese social economy. However, with

the development of the practices and the deepening of the reform, China’s land law

system is facing great challenges under the new circumstances. Although many

differences exist between English land law and Chinese land law in the areas of legal

form, the regulated objects and contents, English land law can provide some beneficial

enlightenment to China’s land law reform. Particularly, the “paradox of English land

law,” which presents the way how the English land law, as the law adjusting the basic

property relations with many traditional factors, responds to the process of social and

economic development with leaps and bounds.

Keywords English land law, land law reform in China, interaction of law and economy

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 123

I. COMPARISON OF LEGAL FORM OF LAND LAW BETWEEN THE UK AND CHINA........ 125

II. LEGAL DECONSTRUCTION OF PHENOMENON OF “PARADOX OF ENGLISH LAND

LAW”...................................................................................................................... 126

III. ENLIGHTMENT TO LAND LAW REFORM OF CHINA ................................................ 130

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................ 133

INTRODUCTION

Since the 1980s, China’s economy has maintained a stable increase for a long term

while many social reforms have progressed simultaneously. In the land law realm, which

focuses on the regulation of the most basic property relations, since the founding of New

China in 1949, the land law system with Chinese characteristics has been formed based

on various practices, inter alia, the evolution of the rural land law system from the

* (󰧿󲀳) Ph.D and Researcher of Common Law Center, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872,

China. Contact: blueglass@vip.sina.com