A System of Socialist Rule of Law

At its fourth plenary session in October 2014, the 18th CPC Central Committee noted that, “The overall goal of comprehensively promoting law-based governance is to establish a system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and build a country of socialist rule of law.” This goal defines the nature and orientation for advancing law-based governnance and prioritizes the key tasks to fulfill.

The system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics is composed of five subsystems:

? a complete system of legal norms, to be assessed on whether the related legislation is scientific, democratic and ethical;

? a highly effective implementation system, the basic elements of which include a complete legislative system, a complete judicial system and a complete executive system;

? a rigorous system of legal oversight, including constraints and supervision by the National People’s Congress, administrative agencies, judicial agencies, mass media and the general public;

? a powerful system of strong legal protections, including important protections for establishing and upholding judicial powers, implementing and promoting openness in judicial proceedings, and adapting to and satisfying the needs of law-based governance; and

? refined internal rules of the CPC.

The basic requirements of a country of socialist rule of law include a sound and complete set of laws, the authoritativeness of those laws and their effective implementation.

To establish a socialist law-based country, China must take the path of law-based governance under Chinese socialism, maintain the leadership of the CPC, uphold the mastery of the people and the concept that everyone is equal before the law, integrate the rule of law and rule of virtue, and demand that this be based on the actual conditions of its own.

社會主義法治體系

2014年10月召開的中共十八屆四中全會指出，“全面推進依法治國，總目標是建設中國特色社會主義法治體系，建設社會主義法治國家。”全面推進依法治國總目標的提出，既明確了全面依法治國的性質和方向，又突出了工作重點和總抓手。中國特色社會主義法治體系由五個子系統構成：一是完備的法律規范體系，堅持以科學立法、民主立法、道德立法為衡量標準；二是高效的法治實施體系，以完善立法程序、完善司法制度、完善執政方式等為基本內容；三是嚴密的法治監督體系，包括全國人大的制約監督、行政機關的制約監督、司法機關的制約監督、社會輿論的制約監督、公民的制約監督等各類監督；四是有力的法治保障體系，以樹立和維護司法權威、實施和促進司法公開、適應和滿足法治需求等為重要保障；五是完善的黨內法規體系。社會主義法治國家基本要求主要表現在法律完備而良好、法律權威、法律有效實施等方面。中國建設社會主義法治國家，必須走中國特色社會主義法治道路，堅持中國共產黨的領導，堅持人民主體地位，堅持法律面前人人平等，堅持依法治國和以德治國相結合，堅持從中國實際出發。