Finding
Chinese Law on the Internet
By
Joan Liu
Joan Liu is an associate curator and head
of the Acquisitions & Serials Department of the New York University School
of Law Library. She received her LLM
from the East China Institute of Politics and Law (1988) and her
Ms. Liu's most recent
article on Chinese legal information is "Beyond the Border: The Chinese
Legal Information System in Cyberspace", International Journal of Legal
Information, 29.1 (2001). Her latest
translation of legal works is Freedom's Law: The
Moral Reading of the American Constitution by Ronald Dworkin,
Oxford Press (1996), Shanghai People's Press, (2001).
Ms. Liu is a member
of both the American Law Library Association (AALL) and Association of American
Law Schools (AALS).
*This article is excerpted from Roaming the
Virtual Law Library: A Guide to Online Sources for
Legal Researchers, edited by Joan Liu and Liying
Yu, Law Press
Published February 2005
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Chinese Legal
System and Legal Information System
Characteristics and Sources of Law
Legal Information System in China
Eastlaw vs. Westlaw: the Impact of
the Internet on Chinese Legal Information
Chapter 2: Major Chinese or
Bilingual Online Sources
Sources in English or Bilingual with Chinese
Chapter 3: Features of Online
Sources and Search Strategies
Evaluating Chinese Online
Legal Resources
Strategies of Online Legal
Research
Some Misconceptions of Online
Resources
Researching Chinese Law on the
Internet: A Sample Problem
A
great deal of research has been done in recent years on the portrayal and
evaluation of the Chinese legal system.[i] The legal scheme of the People's Republic of
China seems to be a combination of traditional Chinese culture and the Soviet
model, mixed with the characteristics of the civil law family.
The
current legal order in China is completely new from an ideological point of
view, coming into existence after the Kuomingtang (
The
present legal framework, which was officially established in 1949, was based on
Marxism and Leninism.[ii] Before
the Chinese government adopted the Open Door Policy in 1978 to promote economic
development within the country, a series of successive political disruptions
had disturbed the formation and progression of the modern legal order. (Before the Criminal Code
was enacted in 1979, the Constitution Law passed in 1954 was the only statute
for 25 years!)
Massive
legislation from the late 1980s, which emulated the legislative experiences and
techniques of Western countries, was beyond the structure of the Soviet model.[iii] Socialism, however, remained the foundation
of the law, as did its ultimate goal of becoming an instrument of social order
and control. Consequently, the law had
no place for such ideals as justice and equity, which are often claimed by Western society.
As
shown by its legal structure and form, the laws of the PRC share the same
characteristics of the civil law system rather than those of common law. As concluded by Rene David, "Chinese law.can
be ranked within the family of the laws deriving from the Romanist tradition".[iv] As David stated, this can be partly
attributed to Europeanization (which more specifically refers to the legal
systems of Germany and Japan, not Britain and the United States), the movement
which took place during the first wave of legal reform
that started at the end of the Qing Dynasty.[v] However, China's own rich history of over two
thousand years' worth of written law traditions, ranging from the Qin Code
during the Qin Dynasty in 220 BC, to the most
complete and mature Tang Code (Tanglue Shuyi) of the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century, to the Great Qing Code of the Qing Dynasty (the
last monarchy of China during the 7th--20th centuries), to the Six
Codes of the Republic of China before 1949), also
contributed heavily to modern day Chinese law.
The
two legal systems of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Macao Special Administrative Region
(Macao SAR), however, are the exceptions
from the legal framework of the PRC. The two are responsible for adding many
unconventional and unprecedented traits to
the Chinese socialist system.
The HKSAR and the Macao SAR were set up directly under Deng
Xiaoping's (the former President of the PRC and a giant of the Party) theory of
"one country, two systems." The National People's Congress (NPC) enacted both the Basic Law of the HKSAR (adopted
on April 1990) and the Basic Law of the Macao SAR
(adopted on March 1993) before the PRC resumed its exercise of sovereignty over
both areas. (The Basic Law of the HKSAR
can be found online in both Chinese and English, along with the Basic Law of the Macao SAR. This was done for the purpose of maintaining
state dominion over the special economic positions of these two regions.
The
two Basic Laws of the HKSAR and Macao SAR are national laws, not local
laws. As such, no other laws,
ordinances, administrative regulations, and
normative documents of the HKSAR and the Macao SAR shall violate their Basic
Laws. Furthermore, it is stated clearly
in the Basic Laws of both regions that the existing capitalist system and the
people's current way of life shall remain unchanged for the next 50 years. Laws previously in force are also kept and
maintained. Hence, the legal systems in
both regions have combined the characteristics of both civil and common laws,
creating a political scheme that is a mixture of both capitalism and socialism.
As
mentioned above, though the Chinese legal system claims to be distinct from all
other legal systems, jurists of the PRC follow the rules of the civil law
family. The legislation of the PRC
reflects a structural similarity to countries of the Romano-Germanic
family. Moreover, Chinese jurists value
legal doctrines and hold written law in high esteem; concrete judicial
decisions are not officially considered a source of law.
According
to the
Law of the People's Republic of China on Legislation (2001), the NPC
and its Standing Committee pass the national statutes, including the Constitution Law, criminal substantial
and procedural laws, civil principles and procedural laws. The NPC and the Standing Committee are the
highest authority in the land.
In
China, legal interpretations are commonly grouped into three categories: legislative, administrative, and
judicial. The State Council is empowered
to enact administrative regulations in accordance with national laws. Government agencies, ministries and
commissions, which are under the State Council, are vested with the power to
issue orders, measures, and directives in conformity with the State Council's
regulations. Local congressional and
government bodies enact local laws and administrative measures. The People's Congress of National Autonomous
Regions is empowered to enact autonomous regulations. However, they cannot be in conflict with
national statutes.[vi]
Judicial
decisions are not considered official sources of law. The judgments of the Supreme People's Court
are, however, factually respected by the lower courts and used as guidelines
when the provision of law is in obscurity.
The
main sources of the laws in the HKSAR are: (1) Basic Law; (2) laws stipulated in the Basic Law, Article 8 (that
is, the common law, rules of equity, ordinances, subordinate legislation, and
customary law previously in force in Hong Kong); (3) laws enacted by the SAR;
(4) laws enacted by the NPC or its Standing Committee (which are defense and
foreign affaires related, and as stated in the Basic Law, Article 18).[vii]
As
a colonial region, Macao's legal order was based upon the Portuguese legal
system, which belongs to the civil law family.
The Macao Basic Law by the NPC
became its constitutional law after she was returned to mainland China. However, Portuguese laws that were formerly
applied to Macao, but not in conflict with the Macao Basic Law, still remain in
force. Also, the laws enacted by the
Macao SAR legislature and other administrative regulations passed by the
government are still law in Macao.[viii]
Although
a tremendous amount of legal materials on Chinese law can be found on the
Internet nowadays, an adequate information structure - a systematized
information unit consisting of laws and regulations, case reports, law
treatises, law reviews, and finding tools (such as an index and digest) - is
still in the early stages of construction.
Some components of the legal information system, such as finding tools,
updating services, and citation standards, took years before they were forged
into the Western systems. Without a
comprehensive legal information system, which is the foundation of legal study
and practice, legal research cannot be conducted accurately and
efficiently.
In
China, the major predicaments or challenges we face include the scarcity of
legal information, the high difficulty of information access, the quality of
legal publishing (which is below standard), the lack of a uniform system of
subject classification, underdeveloped library facilities and services, and the
shortage of information specialists.
Due
to the absence of law for nearly three decades in China after the establishment
of the PRC in 1949, the development and progress of legal scholarship had been
bleak in the country. Of the minimal
amount of research publications available, most are directly copied from the
works of the former Soviet Union or simply political propaganda. Attention to and study of legal information
access were almost zero and legal information professionals were few.[ix] Moreover, few financial resources were
available to legal education and research institutions, government agencies,
and law enforcement and judicial institutions in the amassing of limited
materials.
Law
schools had no steady resources to establish a competent collection to support
legal teaching and research. Textbooks
that were rife with political preaching ideals and Soviet doctrines were the
main teaching materials, and often the only materials available for certain
subjects. As a result, law graduate
students in the 1980s found themselves trapped between
dual difficulties-the scarcity of legal materials and the lack of fundamental
communication means for their theses.
Consequently, a huge portion of their time was spent physically
traveling around the country to collect information and data and visiting other
law schools to exchange ideas and insights with their colleagues in person.
At
the end of the 1980s, the renaissance of legal research resulted in the
flourishing of the legal publishing industry.[x] However, the collection of legal materials is
not well balanced. Unlike those major
law schools in big cities (which were supplied with more governmental and other
funds), small to medium-sized law schools in the hinterland and judicial
institutions have been struggling with the lack of basic legal materials.[xi]
The
proliferation of legal publishing since the 1980s[xii]
did not automatically form a solid legal information structure to serve legal
research. Instead, problems from legal
publishing still impede the development of a strong system supporting legal
research.
The
major problem is the utilitarian and pragmatist approach of the legal
publishers, which are mostly owned by the state. These publishers are the ones who determine
the publishing scheme, and they pay little attention to adopt commonly accepted
techniques (such as providing an index, digest, and standardized or unified
citation). Moreover, law classification
is primitive and not uniform, two factors that play important roles in
restraining the development of a competent legal information system in China.
Instead
of a well-balanced scholarly and practitioner-oriented publishing scheme for
primary and secondary sources (seen by West Publishing as the base of the
information pyramid[xiii]),
publishers are driven more or less by the idea of profit making. The utilitarian values adopted by legal
publishers have resulted in the repetitive publishing of practical materials,
popular legal readings (such as law or regulation compilations), and all sorts
of legal handbooks. This pragmatic
tendency has squandered precious resources, hindering the production of
research tools that are really needed.
For example, the legal periodical index, which is the most fundamental
finding tool in legal research, only came out in 2001, while the "Reprint of
Newspaper and Journals" by the People's University has been continually
published over the decades. The "China Academic Journals" by Tsinghua
University, another powerful secondary source for various subjects, including
law, has only recently been released onto the Internet. Before these major research tools were
available, the frustration experienced by legal researchers from China and
elsewhere cannot be described appropriately to give it justice.
Some
legal publishers, however, have started to emulate the format and method of
Western publishing styles-for instance, the Laws of the People's Republic of
China, a loose-leaf service by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing
Committee of the NPC. This 16-volume
loose-leaf set follows, to a large degree, the structure of the Commerce
Clearing House (
However,
the majority of legal publications have not yet adopted the standard rules and
techniques of information management.
Without these standards and techniques, information retrieval becomes
problematic. Law compilation under
various titles is a typical example of the above. After roughly browsing a law bookstore or an
online catalog, one can find hundreds of different kinds of law compilations
amassed by different agencies and published by different publishers.[xv] Such compilations are commonly put together
chronologically according to when the laws were enacted and then grouped by
different subjects. They are usually
published as multiple volumes, and the table of content only appears in the
first volume. Because of the lack of
indices, if one is clueless as to the title of the document or its citation,
one has to read through the whole set to locate specific documents.
Moreover,
since systematic updating services are not yet available, researchers sometimes
have to "shepardize" the laws themselves to make sure
that the information they have is current and up to date. The Criminal Code can be used as an
example. This Code had not been
comprehensively amended until 1997, after it was initially enacted in
1979. Over the years, the NPC has
released over twenty amendments or supplemental decisions, published
individually, but not consolidated with the Code itself. Therefore, researchers not only have to read
through the whole Code, but also all supplemental materials.[xvi]
Among
the several classification systems, there are three major ones: the People's University Library
Classification, the Beijing Library Classification, and the Science Academy
Library Classification. The Beijing
Library Classification system, the recommended standard classification
schedule, is widely used by academic libraries, including law libraries. The dissonance generated by the multiple
classification systems and the primitiveness found in subject classification
affect information retrieval and sharing.[xvii]
Due
to the indifference shown to those who pursue law scholarship, the law
librarian is considered as one of the less favorable professions in China. This has resulted in an underdeveloped legal
information system and a shortage of legal information specialists. After the economic and political reforms of
the 1980s, there was a great demand to learn more about the other legal systems
of the world and also how to access legal information. When Chinese legal scholars were finally
given the opportunity to study in the West, they were amazed and impressed by
the sophistication of the Western legal information system. Learning not only the substantial laws, but
also the methods and techniques of conducting legal research, this group of
legal scholars returned to China with expectations of a corresponding legal
information system. Consequently, they
became the first library constituency in law schools who pushed for progress on
a legal information system in China.
The Committee on Legal Education Exchange with China (CLEEC), sponsored by the Ford Foundation and which
consists of legal educators, scholars, and law librarians from the United
States, was one of a few organizations that focus on Chinese legal education
and research. From 1982 to 1996, the
CLEEC not only offered the opportunity for young law teachers to study law abroad,
but also committed itself to supporting Chinese legal education institutions in
both facility and personnel training.
Sensing the significance of legal information to the rule of law in
China, CLEEC also granted young legal scholars the chance to study legal
information by offering scholarships and organizing activities that include
collecting law book donations to law schools and training law librarians.[xviii] Unfortunately, the people who obtained a
Library Science degree devoted themselves to more practical and popular areas
such as law research or teaching, not pursuing a career as law librarians.
The
deficiency of law librarians makes it harder for the law library to supply
legal information to researchers.
Because of the negligence of the law library and the scarcity of
resources, the mentality of library personnel tends to lean toward the
possession and control of library resources rather than proactively
facilitating services to ensure their maximum usage. Consequently, the course on teaching legal
research has not been added into the curriculum. There are only a few testers to make the
library stacks open to the public. The
"reference desk" is still a relatively new concept in many law libraries. In spite of the appeals of law librarians
from China and other parts of the world, an association of law librarians has
still not yet been formed.[xix]
Unlike
the US, where the American Bar Association set up requirements to ensure that
the library is seen as a heart of legal research and study, the law library in
China is seen more as a warehouse for books.
So far, there are no formal qualification requirements to be a law
librarian. People are not surprised to
see that law library staff has neither bibliographic knowledge nor a legal
background. However, this situation is improving.[xx]
The
growth of computer technology in the 1990s has created an opportunity for
online legal information access in China.
The Internet has developed at an unexpected pace, making it a special
means of legal information storage and retrieval. The Chinese government's commitments have
helped set up a foundation for the Internet, allowing legal information to be
accessed by this special tool and distributed in an unconventional way. If the impact of the Internet for the Western
legal system is more of an instrumental significance, then it has multiple
impacts on China; the Internet is not only instrumental, but also the ideal.
Economic
globalization and the sharing of legal information, all partially made possible
by the Internet, have put China in a position where its government operations,
policy making processes, and legislatures are pressured to show transparency
and standards for its legal information system.[xxii] Moreover, the Internet probably can also help
China eliminate the huge amount of time and financial resources spent
accumulating her legal collection by promoting the sharing of legal information
via technology. A virtual law library
will replace current "law reading rooms".
The Internet has also changed the concept of accessing information; the
availability of information is beyond the boundaries of space and time. Therefore, the utilization of information is
more important than the possession of information. Those conceptual changes from the Internet
offer a new perspective to Chinese legal researchers on how to construct a
Chinese legal information system and library.
A
big success to the progression of the legal information system in China is due
to the online legal databases produced by Chinese academic institutions or
government agencies under the template of Westlaw and LexisNexis. In the 1980s, legal researchers started
thinking of adopting CALR for Chinese legal research. The goal is to create a service similar to
Westlaw that would supply comprehensive online legal services. The exhaustive coverage, powerful searching
capacities, and omnibus help features were all seen as models of online database
services in China.[xxiii]
Chinalawinfo, formerly known as the Information Center at Beijing (Peking)
University, used to cooperate with both Westlaw and LexisNexis
on supplying Chinese law databases in both Chinese and English. It also released the Chinese legal retrieval system, a pioneer online legal service in
China. Its database initially included
some national and local laws related to economics and foreign business. After the advent of the Center for Legal
Information of the Peking University, the databases were expanded to contain
national statutes, regulations, treaties, and some judicial decisions dating
from 1949. In the summer of 1999, this
online service was formally incorporated into China Law Information Inc. and published
an English version. It also designed its webpage as a gateway to
other online resources with its own search engine. In 2002, Chinalawinfo
started putting hyperlinks to relevant resources for the provisions of laws,
regulations, and other documents in the databases. An interesting fact is that Chinalawinfo adopted this hyperlink Internet technology
only two to three years later after Westlaw and other superior online services
implemented it; conversely, it had been almost twenty years after Chinese
formally celebrated the Chinese version of CARL! It makes people believe that Eastlaw, a Chinese version corresponding to Westlaw (the
quintessential online legal research system) is not very far from reality because
of the advanced modern technology.
Chinalawinfo is not all alone. There were
other similar online legal services in the 1990s. For instance,
In
addition to these commercial products, legal education institutions, law
enforcement agencies, and law firms have also established law databases and
online services. Foreign publishers have
also started including Chinese law in their databases.
This
recent development to legal information production seems to be strong enough to
convince people that the Eastlaw myth is not far from
reality. But our optimism should not
allow us to ignore the fact that although the Internet indeed is significant to
the Chinese legal information system, it is ultimately only a tool for
information storage and distribution. In
a metaphorical sense, the Internet is an opportunity for China, a channel
connecting China to the rest of the world.
However, it is not decisive as to the substance and nature of the
databases; the online databases or services are only electronic versions of
their paper counterparts. To establish a
real modern legal information system in China, we have to improve the factors
behind the computer screen and our interfaces.
Therefore,
the emphasis on the professionalism and the level of commitment to scholarship
are not mere technical issues. These
demands should be redefined with current regulation. The Regulations
on the Management of Compiling, Editing, and Publishing Laws and Regulations, by
the State Council in 1990, strictly assigns a specific body for the compilation
of law and regulations in Article 4. For
instance, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the NPC is
the sole compiler for the national laws, and the Bureau of Law under the State
Council is the sole compiler for its administrative regulation.
However,
Article 5 sets up an exception for compilation through other channels. For the purpose of practice, study, teaching,
and research, other relevant organizations, associations, and enterprises and
institution may compile and publish laws and regulation for internal usage.[xxv]
This assumption is so broad that almost any situation can be used to produce
its own compilation. Therefore,
revisions and amendments to the provision should ensure the quality control of
law compilation, the biggest legal publishing domain and also the most
confusing and problematic aspect of law publication in China. This is a problem the Internet cannot solve
by itself.
Another
crucial issue to the legal information system is the adoption of modern legal
publishing standards and techniques. The
indexing and digest system ought to be included in legal publishing. Some unified citation system should be
created and adopted. One of the main
causes for the difficulty in information access is the lack of a commonly
accepted citation system in China. The
citation system is a unique information organization component as well as a
search term.
Furthermore,
as we discussed earlier, with the current existing legal publishing structure,
secondary sources and finding tools are not yet well developed. Research tools and guides, directory
materials, and statistics and factual data should be released regularly and
systematically. Online search algorithms make retrieval more efficient, but
Internet technology itself does not create the databases.
Lastly,
the government ought to keep its policies about legal information archival,
retrieval, and distribution more transparent, consistent, and steady to the
public. As with any civilized modern
government, the Chinese government is the biggest legal information creator and
supplier who distributes the official versions of legal documents, including
laws, regulations, statistics, and directories.
These should be the original sources for any commercial legal online
database. A more systemic and
sophisticated government information protocol, such as the Government Printing
Office (GPO) in the United States or Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) in
the United Kingdom, should be considered future goals for the Chinese
government.
In
response to the intensive "Government to Internet" project, the majority of
government agencies have published their websites. Though the project is only a transitory
measure to promote the openness of government operation, its goal should not be
limited to this stage, but taken further.
The government should utilize the magical power of the Internet to make
the official information about the law and the policy available to the public,
which is its principal mission. The
guarantees of accuracy, comprehensiveness, and easy access of government
information should become a perpetual responsibility, not a provisional task.
The
Internet can be a dilemma, a double-edged sword. First, it is an efficient means and tool for
the storage and delivery of government information, enhancing the efficiency
and transparency of its operation.
However, it also gives the government the opportunity to control and
censor, interfering with the citizens' right to information access with harsh
measures. Therefore, the Chinese government
should be discrete on its policy on the issue of information access via the
Internet.
References
Chen, J., Chinese Law: Towards an Understanding of Chinese
Law, Its Nature and Development. Kluwer Law
International, 1999.
Dobinson, Ian, Introduction
to Law in the Hong Kong SAR. 2nd edition. Sweet &
Maxwell
Hsu, C.
Stephen, Understanding China's Legal
System.
Lee, Tahirih
V., Chinese Law: Social, Political,
Historical, and Economic Perspectives. Garland Publishing, Inc., 1997.
Xin, Chunying, Chinese Legal System & Current Legal Reform. Beijing:
Law Press, 1999.
Wesley-Smith, Peter, An Introduction to the
Categorizing
online resources is an almost impossible and futile task. For the purpose of simplifying our
discussion, the resources have been subjectively grouped into four sections in
Part I as legal online services with full text databases, governmental
websites, electronic journals, and legal research tools and directorial
websites. Due to the amount of time and
labor spent on local maintenance, the CD-ROM has been losing its appeal in
Western countries. However, it is and
will continue to be a major medium for legal information in China due to its
low production costs and easy dissemination.
CD-ROM products will be introduced here with their web version
counterparts, not grouped separately.
The
online resources discussed here are accessed via the World Wide Web and have
been further divided into two portions by language: bilingual (English and
Chinese) or Chinese only. Each group of
resources is then further subdivided into sequential order based on the
criteria of comprehension, reliability, search capacities, and the subjective
experience of the author.
Most
of the available online full text Chinese law databases are commercial
services, which provide systems that are similar to the comprehensive Computer-Assisted
Legal Research (CALR) tools, such as Westlaw and LexisNexis. Like the CALR databases, these Chinese law
databases are also comprehensive and come with features that include a
systematic updating process, standardized data retrieval systems, and powerful
technical support. Furthermore, all of
the aforementioned features are operated by professional information
institutions.
Official
government websites are grouped separately since they are supposedly the most
reliable sources for official policies and legal information. Systems like GPO Access or Thomas are not yet
available in China, but the sophistication of the Hong Kong government website
makes it an appropriate model for the future construction of an online
governmental information system.
When
looking at government websites, please keep in mind that the rules for
identifying domain names are not strictly followed in China. A government site could use .gov, .org, .edu, or even .com;
therefore, one has to read the description carefully in order to make a
decision on the authority of the source.
Electronic
journals cover specific subjects and topics.
While online legal services focus on primary legal resources such as
statutes, regulations, case reports, and other core legal documents, electronic
journals supply research articles, the most current legal issues and
discussions.
The
remaining online resources are grouped as legal research tools and directorial
websites. Though some of these websites
may also maintain databases that cover a significant amount of the legal
documents, they are usually rudimentary in nature and lack systematic updating
and standardization. Consequently, they
are mainly regarded as resources of bibliographic and directorial
information. The major sites for
research guides, legal publishers, and law vendors are also listed and
annotated in this part.
Chinalawinfo was developed
in the 1980s by the Legal Information Center of Peking University Law
School. Its retrieval system comes in
two versions-English and Chinese-both of which can be accessed via its
website. Chinalawinfo's
fee-based service allows the user to obtain the full text versions of new laws
and regulations, and materials are updated biweekly. The Free Law service, on the other hand,
provides free access to some national statutes and regulations.
The Cases feature offers free access to a list of
selected cases by the Supreme People's Courts.
The system also provides an index to the "Four Big Gazettes";
namely, Gazette of the Standing Committee
of the People's Congress, Gazette of
the State Council, Gazette of the
Supreme People's Court, and Gazette
of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
A new feature was added to the service in the summer
of 2002, which provides hyperlinks between laws and regulations to their
related legislation or case reports.
E-mail notices such as "Chinalawinfo.com Database New Updates" are also
periodically distributed to the subscribers.
At present, Chinolawinfo is
the most complete online database with reliable search functions available for
Chinese law. However, the flaws inherent
in the database structure and its advanced search capacities could be
discouraging for end users.
This Hong Kong based bilingual commercial database
provides expansive coverage on the laws and regulations of the PRC and Hong
Kong. Moreover, it is probably also the
best place to find English versions of newly enacted laws or regulations for
the PRC and Hong Kong at present.
isinolaw's
Bilingual Split Screen is a unique tool.
The downloading process is also user-friendly. Database retrieval, however, is still
volatile and has room for improvement in comparison with online services such
as Westlaw. This online service has
recently started notifying its subscribers of current updates via e-mail.
Sinolaw is the first
commercial English online legal service found in mainland China. This Internet-based database is run by a
Chinese information service agency in Beijing.
Though SLO emphasizes commercial and business laws, it also includes
basic laws, major statutes, and regulations of the PRC. The coverage of the latter, however, is not
as extensive as the former topics. Sinolaw's model and database layout is likely used as
templates for other bilingual online databases.
CLRSonline, published by
Asia Law & Practice Ltd., was sold to
China Laws and Regulations Information
This online database is produced by a Fujian province-based information agency, and offers
comprehensive coverage of both primary and secondary sources on Chinese
law. For the time being, users can
access the database for free. The
English section comprises the major national laws and complete relevant
administrative regulations, decisions, and supplemental provisions. However, its retrieval function is primitive,
because the only search method available is a keyword search for both title and
content. Moreover, an updating mechanism
has not yet been clearly developed.
Westlaw now contains all the Hong Kong SAR judgments
from all its court levels that were originally published by Sweet & Maxwell
Asia in paper. The earliest reports date
as far back as 1905, a full text version of the 2002 edition of the Hong Kong Civil Procedure (The White Book
Service) is also available. Several law
journals on the laws of the PRC and Hong Kong that were published by Sweet
& Maxwell Asia and popular newspapers such as the South China Morning Post are also included in the database.
The Lexis/Nexis Online
Service has resumed its coverage of the laws of the PRC and Hong Kong SAR, as
well as the updating service for the same.
For Hong Kong Case Law, important decisions from all court levels in
Hong Kong since 1946 are included in its database. Reports are updated regularly; new case
reports are usually available on Lexis/Nexis one or
two weeks after the decisions are released.
It also comprises the laws of the PRC, including statutes,
administrative regulations, important judicial interpretations, and local laws
and regulations, covering over 60 subjects of law in total.
This is an official U.S. foreign news service that
provides extensive coverage on the politics and laws of the PRC. The World
News Connection collection is mostly made up what are considered the
important resources. This includes the Daily Report China, which was published
by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service and taken over by
The full text journal database houses a comprehensive
range of research articles, including legal literature. This commercial database has an English index
and also Chinese full text. The articles
archived here date back to 1994. As of
now, it is the most comprehensive and powerful database for finding legal
articles in the Chinese vernacular with advanced search methods.
China Internet Information Center
This website is an "authorized government portal site
to China" and highly resembles an encyclopedia.
It is published under the China International Publishing Group and the
State Council Information Office; however, it does not use the .gov domain. This
site covers topics such as politics, law, science and technology, and various
economics aspects of China. Its "Law and Enforcement"
section introduces Chinese law and its latest developments. The site can be searched by using keywords.
This website is sponsored by the Supreme People's
Court of the PRC and focuses on judicial news and legal information. Access service is free, and the laws and
regulations are available in English.
However, court judgments are not particularly available on this
site. The database can only be searched
by using keywords.
BLIS, which stands for the Bilingual Laws Information
System, is a database for Hong Kong law.
This official legal online service can be found at the website of the Department of Justice of the HKSAR and is open
to the public for free.
BLIS contains Hong Kong statutory laws and also
selected constitutional documents in both English and Chinese. Some cases from the Court of Final Appeal are reported at this
site, but the database is not updated.
The Current Ordinances section corresponds to the printing version as
published in the loose-leaf edition. In
the International Agreements section, both bilateral agreements and
multilateral treaties are listed. This
database provides the most current version of the laws of the Hong Kong SAR,
and is updated on an average of two weeks after the publication of the Gazette.
The Government of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region Gazette
This is an official site providing full-text access,
but the databases are not archived; only the latest issue of the Gazette is
available.
This is the website of the Government Printing Office
in Macao. The database contains the
complete laws of Macao and some national laws of the PRC in Chinese and
Portuguese. It is archived and kept
up-to-date.
This bilingual website by Zhonglv
Legal Information is very closely associated with the Ministry of Justice and
other agencies, even though it has claimed itself to be an independent
information institution since 1999. Free
access to comprehensive law databases with search capacities is provided. The English version contains close to 800
documents, and also includes an index.
The most valuable component of this site is its extensive information
about Chinese attorneys.
This website contains official information on the
China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, the Maritime
Arbitration Commission, and the Beijing Conciliation Center. It also provides introductions and states
arbitration rules for each agency.
State Intellectual Property Office
This English website covers currently available
information, including an introduction about the agency and also the full text
of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China.
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation
A bilingual introduction to the agency is given on
this site. The "Regulations and
Policies" section provides free access to the full texts of laws related to
foreign trade and business.
This bilingual website contains laws and regulations
on education and networking technology.
It also offers extensive statistical information on the Chinese
education system. The compilation of the
linkages to the Libraries offers a
gateway to the sites of public libraries and colleges/university libraries in
China.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission website
contains an informative introduction about the Ministry and security market in
China. It also provides the full text of
the Security Law of the PRC and statistical data, but the databases are neither
searchable nor up to date.
National Bureau of Statistics of the PRC
This is the most reliable website for obtaining the
official statistics of China. It offers
a compilation of statistical matters and related laws and regulations, but is
not searchable.
This site releases reports on the latest legal
developments and governmental policies.
The databases are searchable.
This is the online version
of the Chinese official daily newspaper, China
Daily, which covers legal news. The
online database allows free access for full text. Keyword searching is used. Contents are archived for about three months.
This is the electronic
version of the journal under the same title by Asian Law and Practice. The commercial journal offers the most
current reports, translations, and commentaries on the new laws and legal
development in China, and has multiple search functions.
This is an electronic
journal on Chinese law published biweekly by Legal Support Services Limited
from 2000-2002. The journal focuses on
the discussion of current Chinese law development. This service also offers the full text of the
new laws, regulations, and interpretations that are publicized by the central
and local government bodies in Chinese.
This electronic
publication, which is associated with Beijing University Law School, Tsinghua University Law School, the College of Law, and the
SOAS Briefing Office in London, serves as a bridge between the lawyers of China
and Great Britain. Its "Legal Articles"
section publishes research articles that deal with the laws of mainland China
and Hong Kong. The "Reference" section
collects major Chinese laws in both English and Chinese, but access is
restricted to members only.
This web service, sponsored by Babelcom,
covers Chinese property law, contract law, company law, partnership law, and
sole proprietorship law. All information
is provided in English. Access to the
full texts of the laws is free. It also
contains briefs and discussions on the subject.
This is the official paper of the Party and contains
reports on legislation and legal developments.
New laws are usually first released in full-text in this newspaper. The paper is archived and the database
provides multiple search options.
This is a Hong Kong based newspaper that reports a
considerable amount of news on the legal disputes from the PRC and Hong
Kong. The database has advanced search
capabilities and is now available via WESTLAW.
This electronic journal focuses on legal reference
resources. It contains mainly the
research guides for different jurisdictions, including China. The journal is updated periodically.
General directorial sites
This can be used as a comprehensive directory for the
Chinese law and legal system. A list of
accessible Internet resources for major Chinese laws in both Chinese and
English are provided.