With the continuous development and deepening of reform and opening-up, the rule of law in China has gone through a magnificent 40-year course and made unprecedented achievements. The 40-year history of reform and opening-up is a glorious history of the continuous change, perfection and sustainable development of the rule of law in China, and it is also a glorious history of the party leading the people on the road of rule of law, building the rule of law system in Socialism with Chinese characteristics and building a socialist country ruled by law.
1. Abandon the rule of man and enforce the rule of law.
Over the past 40 years, the rule of law and the process of reform and opening up in China have always been closely integrated and complemented each other. In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China profoundly summed up the historical lessons and raised the construction of democracy and the rule of law to a new height, which was a milestone in the history of the rule of law in new China.
The most obvious sign of the beginning of the rule of law in the new period is the large-scale legislation in 1979. In July 1979, the Second Session of the Fifth National People’s Congress deliberated and passed seven important laws, including the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law. In September 1979, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued "Instructions on Resolutely Ensuring the Practical Implementation of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law", pointing out that the promulgation of criminal law and criminal procedure law is of great significance to strengthening the socialist legal system. Whether they can be strictly implemented is an important symbol to measure whether the socialist legal system is implemented. This document is regarded as an important symbol of the new stage of socialist legal system construction in China. At the same time, courts, procuratorates, public security and judicial administration institutions, as well as the lawyer system, notary system and people’s mediation system have been restored and rebuilt. Legal research institutions and legal education institutions have also been rapidly rebuilt and developed.
On December 4, 1982, the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People’s Congress adopted a new constitution. The "82 Constitution" inherited the basic principles of the "May 4th Constitution" and made many important reforms and developments according to the needs of socialist construction in the new period. For example, the preamble and article 5 of the general program of the Constitution establish the socialist principle of rule of law and stipulate the fundamental position of the Constitution and the constitutional guarantee system to safeguard the unity and dignity of the rule of law. The Constitution has made new and more explicit provisions on citizens’ basic rights, and strengthened safeguards. The Constitution of 1982 has set up a pillar for the building of the rule of law in the new period, and played a great role in promoting and safeguarding the rule of law in the new period. During this period, in order to promote the reform and opening up and ensure the smooth progress of socialist modernization, the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee made economic legislation the focus of their legislative work, and successively formulated laws such as the Economic Contract Law, the Statistics Law, the Income Tax Law for Sino-foreign Joint Ventures, the Income Tax Law for Foreign Enterprises, the Personal Income Tax Law, the Trademark Law and the Patent Law, and approved the regulations on land acquisition for national construction and the regulations on Guangdong Special Economic Zone.
In 1997, the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China established the rule of law as the basic strategy for the party to lead the people to govern the country, and it was a historic leap to realize the transformation from rule of man to rule of law and from rule of law to rule of law. In 2007, the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward goals and tasks for fully implementing the basic strategy of governing the country according to law, emphasizing the need to speed up the construction of a socialist country ruled by law, improve the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, promote administration according to law, deepen the reform of the judicial system, and carry out in-depth publicity and education on the legal system.
2. Governing the country in an all-round way according to law and entering a new era
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has made great strides in the construction of the rule of law, promoting the rule of law in an all-round way, comprehensively strengthening the system construction of the organic unity of the party’s leadership, the people being the masters of the country and the rule of law, deepening scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, fair justice and law-abiding for all, promoting the construction of a country ruled by law, a government ruled by law and a society ruled by law, improving the rule of law system in Socialism with Chinese characteristics, and obviously enhancing the concept of the rule of law in the whole society.
In 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China focused on the strategic goal of comprehensively promoting the rule of law, and confirmed that the rule of law is the basic way to govern the country. Clearly put forward the new 16-character policy of rule of law construction — — Scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, fair justice and law-abiding for the whole people; Clearly put forward the phased objectives and tasks of the rule of law construction by 2020.
In 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee made "the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Decision on Several Major Issues of Comprehensively Deepening Reform", regarding "promoting the construction of China under the rule of law" as an important task of comprehensively governing the country according to law and comprehensively deepening reform, and put forward for the first time that "to build China under the rule of law, we must adhere to the joint promotion of governing the country according to law, governing the country according to law, and administering the country according to law, and building a society under the rule of law."
In 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee made a special study on the major issues of comprehensively governing the country according to law and made the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Comprehensively Promoting Several Major Issues of Governing the Country according to Law, which defined the overall goal, blueprint, road map and construction drawing of comprehensively governing the country according to law. This is the first special study in the history of our party, which specially deployed the central plenary session of governing the country in an all-round way according to law.
In 2017, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made major strategic judgments, such as Socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era and the transformation of major social contradictions in China, which not only provided theoretical guidance for the construction of China ruled by law, but also put forward a series of new tasks and requirements for deepening the practice of governing the country according to law, pointed out the strategic development direction and practical development strategy of comprehensively governing the country according to law, and opened a new journey of rule of law in Socialism with Chinese characteristics.
3. Basic experience of rule of law construction
Over the past 40 years, the rule of law in China has made remarkable achievements and accumulated many valuable experiences.
Adhere to the leadership of the Party and follow the road of rule of law in Socialism with Chinese characteristics. The road determines the direction, and the road determines the fate. The most fundamental experience of 40 years of rule of law in China is to adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and unswervingly follow the road of rule of law in Socialism with Chinese characteristics. The practice of 40 years has fully proved that without the fundamental premise of the party’s leadership, it is impossible to ensure the correct direction of the rule of law construction, and without the party’s leadership, the rule of law will become empty talk.
Adhere to the people’s dominant position, respect and protect human rights, and ensure that the people are masters of their own affairs. The people are the masters of the country and the main body of governing the country in an all-round way. To deepen the practice of governing the country according to law and build a China ruled by law, we must uphold the people’s dominant position. To ensure and realize that the people are the masters of the country, we must promote democratic legislation and scientific legislation, so that legislation can truly reflect the will of the people; Promote administration according to law and fair justice, and realize law enforcement and justice for the people; By deepening the reform of the judicial system, we will speed up the construction of a fair, efficient and authoritative socialist judicial system, safeguard people’s rights and interests, and let the people feel fairness and justice in every judicial case.
Adhere to the supremacy of constitutional law, safeguard the authority of constitutional law, and promote the implementation of constitutional law. If the constitutional law is strong, the rule of law is strong and the country is strong; If the constitutional law is weak, the rule of law is weak and the country is weak. In our country, the Constitution and the law are the embodiment of the unity of the party’s ideas and the people’s will and the transformation into the national will through legal procedures, and are the institutionalization, standardization and legalization of the party’s line, principles and policies. To uphold the supremacy of constitutional law, we must oppose substituting words for laws, suppressing laws with power and bending the law.
Adhere to the combination of ruling the country by law and ruling the country by virtue. It is not only a summary of historical experience, but also a profound grasp of the law of governing the country. The rule of law and the rule of virtue are like two wheels of a car and wings of a bird, which cannot be neglected. National and social governance needs the concerted efforts of law and morality, and both the rule of law and the rule of virtue are needed.
Combining the rule of law with the rule of the party. The organic combination of governing the country according to law and governing the party according to regulations not only enriches the connotation of governing the country according to law, but also provides a reliable institutional basis and legal guarantee for comprehensively administering the party strictly. It is our party’s new concept, new practice and new experience to closely combine the rule of law with the rule of law, and realize the joint promotion and integrated construction of the rule of law and the rule of law.
Persist in proceeding from China’s national conditions and reality, and learn from the experience of human civilization ruled by law. To promote the rule of law in an all-round way, we can neither ignore the national conditions, go beyond the stage, nor stick to the old ways and stick to the rules. To proceed from reality, we should highlight the characteristics of China, practice and the times, constantly enrich and develop the socialist theory of rule of law, and provide theoretical guidance and academic support for governing the country according to law. The rule of law is one of the important achievements of human civilization, and we should learn from the outstanding achievements of the rule of law civilization in the world. However, learning from others doesn’t mean simply taking advantage of others. We must persist in taking myself as the main factor, making use of it, carefully identifying it and absorbing it reasonably.
Author: Li Lin (researcher, Socialism with Chinese characteristics Theory System Research Center, China Academy of Social Sciences, member of the Faculty of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, deputy director of the Faculty of Social Politics and Law)