This volume explores various aspects of the law in transition in post-Mao China. Among the topics covered are the separation of the Communist Party from day-to-day legislative affairs; the implementation of the general principles of civil law; the political issues of press reform and other matters.

Judy Polumbaum is an assistant professor at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Iowa City. She teaches writing and international communication. A graduate of McGill University, she earned a master of science degree in journalism from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in communication from Stanford University. Her research interests include Chinese press philosophy and practice, and freedom of expression. Stanley B. Lubman specializes in Chinese law as a practicing lawyer and scholar. He is head of the China Group in the law firm of Allen & Overy and frequently travels from his San Francisco base among his firm's offices in Europe (the firm's head office is in London), Hong Kong, and Beijing. Since 1972, he has been advising clients in the United States, Europe, and Asia on Chinese matters. Mr. Lubman concurrently teaches and writes about Chinese law and legal problems of trade and investment in China. Most recently he has been visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg. He has previously taught at the law schools of Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and the University of California- Berkeley.

Contributors, Preface and Acknowledgments, Introduction, Part I: Conceptual and Institutional Foundations, 1. Law and Legitimation in Post-Mao China, 2. Organizations and Politics in China's Post-Mao Law-Making System, Part II: Economic and Civil Law , 3. The Significance of the Opinion of the Supreme People's Court for Civil Law in China, Appendix A: Opinion (for Trial Use) of the Supreme People's Court on Questions Concerning the Implementation of the General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China, Appendix B: Fourth Draft Civil Code (June 1982) of the People's Republic of China, Appendix C: General Provisions of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China Enacted by the National People's Congress on 12 April 1986, 4. Legal Institution, Administrative Device, or Foreign Import: The Roles of Contract in the People's Republic of China, Part III: Public Law Relations, 5. To Protect or Restrict? Points of Contention in China's Draft Press Law, 6. The Administrative Litigation Law of the PRC: Judicial Review and Bureaucratic Reform, Index