The Property Law of the People's Republic of China () is a

property law Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land) and personal property. Property refers to legally protected claims to resources, such as land and personal property, including intellectual prop ...

adopted by the National People's Congress in 2007 (on March 16) that went into effect on October 1, 2007. The law covers the creation, transfer, and ownership of property in the

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or de ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(PRC) and is part of an ongoing effort by the PRC to gradually develop a

civil code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property, family, and obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core are ...

. it contains all aspects of property law in the PRC's legal system. The law was drafted quite differently from the usual legislative process in the PRC where laws are drafted behind closed doors, over 14 000 public submissions were considered for over a decade before the law was adopted and put into effect. In developing civil law in the PRC mainland, the PRC government has used the German Pandectist system of classification under which the property law corresponds to the law on

real right Ius in re, or jus in re, under civil law, more commonly referred to as a real right or right ''in rem'', is a right in property, known as an interest under common law. A real right vests in a person with respect to property, inherent in his relatio ...

s, which is the term used in Chinese for the official name of the law.

Passage

The drafting of the law involved considerable controversy. The proposed bill caused quite a stir since it was first published in 2002, was subsequently deferred, and yet again failed in its reading at the National People's Congress (NPC) of 2006 because of disputes over its content. It finally went through its eighth reading in 2007.New property law shakes up China
BBC News, Thursday, 8 March 2007, 13:10 GMT. Many in the Chinese legal community feared that creating a single law to cover both state property and private property would facilitate

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

and

asset stripping Asset stripping is a term used to refer to the practice of selling off a company's assets in order to improve returns for equity investors. In many cases where the term is used, a financial investor, referred to as a 'corporate raider', takes con ...

state-owned enterprises A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

. The draft law was subject to a constitutional challenge. Legal scholars, notably Gong Xiantian of

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...

, argued that it violated the

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princi ...

characterization of the PRC as a

socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term ''communist state'' is ofte ...

. The law was originally scheduled to be adopted in 2005, but was removed from the legislative agenda following these objections. The final form of the law contains a number of additions to address these objections. On March 8, 2007, the Property Law was formally introduced at the NPC. Vice-Chairman

Wang Zhaoguo Wang Zhaoguo (; born 14 July 1941) is a retired Chinese politician who came to prominence during the era of Deng Xiaoping. An automobile factory technician by trade, Wang had a long and varied political career, known for having acquired a minist ...

told the Congress that the law will "safeguard the fundamental interests of the people", and the law is an attempt at adapting to new "economic and social realities" in China. The law was adopted on March 16, the final day of the two-week session of congress, with the backing of 96.9% of the 2,889 legislators attending, with 2799 for, 52 against, and 37 abstentions. In his final address to the 2007 Session, NPC Chairman

Wu Bangguo Wu Bangguo (born 12 July 1941) is a retired high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China. He was the Chairman and Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to ...

declared "the Private Property Law and the Corporate Taxation law are two of the most important laws in the new economic system of

Socialism with Chinese characteristics Socialism with Chinese characteristics ( zh, s=中国特色社会主义, hp=Zhōngguó tèsè shèhuìzhǔyì) is a set of political theories and policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that are seen by their proponents as representing ...

, we must attempt to learn these laws fully through various methods."

Description

The Property Law contains 5 parts, 19 chapters and 247 articles. The parts deal with the following topics: Part One - General Provisions Part Two - Ownership Part Three - Usufructs Part Four - Security Interest in Property Part Five - Possession. The main purpose of the law is stated in Article 1. "This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the purpose of upholding the basic economic system of the State, maintaining the order of the socialist market economy, defining the attribution of things, giving play to the usefulness of things and protecting the property right of obligees." Article 9 states, "The creation, alteration, transfer or extinction of the property right shall become valid upon registration according to law; otherwise it shall not become valid, unless otherwise provided for by law. Registration of ownership of all the natural resources which are owned by the State in accordance with law may be dispensed with." The law covers all of the three property types within the People's Republic of China, which are

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...

, and

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

which are defined in Chapter 5 of the law. Chapter 4, Article 40 of the law divides property rights into three types: ownership rights, use rights, and security rights. The law goes into detail about the legal rights associated with any of these three types. The law does not change the system of

land tenure In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individua ...

by which the state owns all land. However, in formalizing existing practice, individuals can possess a land-use right, which is defined in Chapter 10 of the law. The law defines this land-use right in terms of the civil law concept of

usufruct Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'': * ''Usus'' (''use'') is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directl ...

Response

Some press reports have characterized this law as the first piece of legislation in the People's Republic of China to cover an individual's right to own private assets,China passes new law on property
BBC News, Friday, 16 March 2007, 02:51 GMT. although this is incorrect as the right to private property was written into the

Constitution of the People's Republic of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China. It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with further revisions about every five years. It is the fou ...

in 2004. The amendment states "Citizens' lawful private property is inviolable."

Notes

References

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External links