Laws of the People's Republic of China

Law of the People's Republic of China, officially referred to as the Socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, is the legal regime of China, with the separate legal traditions and systems of Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Between 1954 and 1978, there was not very much effort within China to create a legal system. The Communist leadership led by Mao Zedong believed that creating a legal system would restrict the power of the Communist Party of China and create elites which would ultimately harm the socialist revolution.

This policy was changed in 1979, and China has formed an increasingly sophisticated legal system. China's legal system is largely a civil law system, reflecting the influence of Continental European legal systems, especially the German civil law system in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

On the other hand, Hong Kong still retains the common law system inherited as a former British colony, and Macau employs a legal system based on that of Portuguese civil law. This is part of the One Country, Two Systems theory. They have their own courts of final appeal and extradition policies. As such, respectively, they are not within the jurisdiction of the court system within China, which is only effective within mainland China, but their respective Basic Laws are subject to the interpretation power of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

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