Public law, private law and social law
The division between public law and private law was first put forward by the ancient Roman jurist Urbian: "Public law is the law of Roman countries, and private law is the law of personal interests." According to this standard, private law follows the principle of party autonomy, establishes property ownership and protects the pursuit of its own interests, such as civil law and commercial law. Public law is a law that uses state power to adjust the distribution of social wealth and the relationship between the state and citizens, such as administrative law, criminal law and procedural law. With the development of society, the phenomenon of "socialization of law" appeared, and a new law-social law, such as social security law, was formed. This is because there are independent social interests, neither national interests nor private interests. In view of this, some people call social law a law between public law and private law. There are differences among public law, social law and private law in terms of adjustment objects, adjustment methods, legal standards and value objectives.
(2) Contemporary China Legal Department
The legal system of contemporary China usually includes the following departments: Constitution, administrative law, civil law, commercial law, economic law, labor law and social security law, natural resources and environmental protection law, criminal law and procedural law.
1. Constitution. As a legal department, the Constitution has a special position in the legal system of contemporary China, and it is the foundation of the whole legal system. The most basic norms of the constitutional department are mainly embodied in the People's Republic of China (PRC) Constitution and other normative documents. In addition to the main and dominant normative legal documents, the constitutional department also includes subordinate laws such as the organic law of major state organs, the electoral law, the law on regional ethnic autonomy, the basic law of the special administrative region, the authorization law, the legislative law and the nationality law.
2. Administrative law. Administrative law is the sum total of legal norms regulating various social relations in state administrative activities. Including standardizing the administrative system, determining the basic principles of administrative management, standardizing the ways, methods and procedures of administrative organs, and standardizing national civil servants. There are few normative documents of general administrative law in China, mainly including administrative reconsideration law, administrative punishment law, administrative supervision law, government procurement law, and temporary regulations on state civil servants. Specialized administrative laws include food hygiene law, drug administration law, and regulations on administrative penalties for public security.
3. Civil law. Civil law is a law to adjust the property relations and personal relations between citizens and legal persons as equal subjects and between citizens and legal persons. The normative legal documents of China's civil law departments are mainly composed of general principles of civil law and separate civil law. General principles of civil law are the basic laws of civil law departments. Separate civil laws mainly include contract law, guarantee law, marriage law, inheritance law, adoption law, trademark law, patent law, copyright law and so on. In addition, it also includes some separate civil laws and regulations, such as the regulations for the implementation of copyright law and the detailed rules for the implementation of trademark law.
4. Commercial law. After the establishment of market economy system was clearly put forward, the status of commercial law as a legal department was recognized by people. Commercial law is a law to adjust the commercial relationship or commercial behavior between equal subjects. From the form of expression, China's commercial law includes company law, securities law, negotiable instrument law, insurance law, enterprise bankruptcy law, maritime law and so on. Commercial law is a legal department, but many concepts, rules and principles related to civil relations stipulated by civil law are also commonly used in commercial law. In this sense, China implements the principle of "civil and commercial integration".
5. Economic law. Economic law is a law to adjust the economic relations in the national economic management. As a legal department, economic law is a legal department developed with the development of commodity economy and the gradual establishment of market economy system to meet the needs of national macroeconomic indirect regulation and control. The forms of economic law, a legal department, include laws related to enterprise management, such as the Law on Industrial Enterprises Owned by the Whole People, the Law on Sino-foreign Joint Ventures, the Law on Foreign-funded Enterprises, the Law on Sino-foreign Cooperative Ventures and the Law on Township Enterprises. There are laws and regulations on finance, finance and taxation, such as China People's Bank Law, Commercial Bank Law, Individual Income Tax Law and Tax Collection and Management Law. Laws and regulations related to macro-control, such as budget law, statistics law, accounting law, measurement law, etc. ; Product quality law, anti-unfair competition law, consumer rights protection law and other laws and regulations related to market subjects and market order.
6. Labor Law and Social Security Law. Labor law is a law to adjust labor relations, and social security law is a law to adjust social security and social welfare. The laws of this legal department include laws and regulations on employment system and labor contract, laws and regulations on employees' participation in enterprise management, working hours and labor remuneration, laws and regulations on labor hygiene and safety, laws and regulations on labor insurance and social welfare, laws and regulations on social security, and laws and regulations on procedures and methods for handling labor disputes. The main normative documents of this legal department are labor law and social security law, including labor law, trade union law, mine safety law and safety production law.
7. Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Law. Natural resources environmental protection law is a law about protecting the environment and natural resources and preventing pollution and other public hazards, which is usually divided into natural resources law and environmental protection law. Natural resources law mainly refers to the laws on planning, rational development, utilization, management and protection of various natural resources. Environmental protection law is a law to protect the environment and prevent pollution and other public hazards.
The normative documents of this legal department belong to natural resources law, including forest law, grassland law, fishery law, mineral resources law, land management law, water law, wildlife protection law and so on. Belonging to environmental protection, there are environmental protection law, marine environmental protection law, water pollution prevention law, air pollution prevention law and environmental impact assessment law.
8. Criminal law. Criminal law is a law that stipulates crime and punishment, and it is a basic legal department in the legal system of contemporary China. In people's daily life, criminal law is also the most concerned law. Criminal law is the dominant normative document in this legal department, and the relevant provisions of some separate laws and regulations may also stipulate criminal law norms (such as the contents of the applicable provisions on cultural relics crimes in the Cultural Relics Protection Law).
9. Procedural law. Procedural law, also known as procedural law, is a law related to various litigation activities, which ensures the correct implementation of substantive law and the realization of substantive rights and obligations from the procedural aspect. The main normative documents of this legal department are the Criminal Procedure Law, the Civil Procedure Law and the Administrative Procedure Law. Meanwhile. The contents of laws such as lawyer law, judge law, prosecutor law, arbitration law and prison law generally belong to this legal department.