Legal Development Based on the Dimension of Human Development

 Currently, China is in an era of vigorous promotion of human rights. It is an important issue of this era to protect citizens' right to development and promote all-round development of human being by means of rule of law. Since reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Communist Party of China has made great achievements in leading the Chinese people in building socialist rule of law, but there are still some shortcomings and deficiencies in China's legal system. It is a complex systematic project to improve and perfect China's legal system, which should not only promote scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, fair justice and law-abiding by all people based on reality, but also obtain experience from the historical development of law, i.e., China should carry forward its fine traditional legal culture, explore a way of rule of law with Chinese characters from the practice of China's revolution, construction and reform, and learn from the beneficial results of rule of law of other countries. Just as human development is a gradual process, so is the development of law. The investigation of legal development based on the dimension of human development is of certain significance for China's new journey to promote the construction of human rights rule of law and strengthen human rights protection in the new era. My report will cover the following three aspects.

I. Law is a system of rules created by human beings based on the needs of survival and development

On the question of which comes first, law or man, the rational jurists will never make the obvious anti-logical judgments that the results of human activities come before human beings. The existence of living individuals is the historical starting point of mankind and the logical starting point of law. Human needs are the motive power of law. Human needs have the characteristics of diversity and development, and material needs are the most fundamental driving force to promote the generation of law. Human beings first of all exist as living beings, and survive and develop through the exchanges of materials, energy and information with the outer environment. People worked together and distributed equally in the primitive society with low level of productivity. The accumulation of production experience promoted the development of productive forces; the development of productive forces led to the division of labor in society; the division of labor in society improved the labor productivity; and the improvement of labor efficiency enabled people to get more goods from nature. As a result, surplus products began to appear, and it became possible for some people to get them for nothing. The way of working together was broken, and the way of equal distribution lost the foundation of existence. As new rules were required to adjust the new mode of production, law came into being. The following statements made by Friedrich Engels reveals the fundamental nature of material need for the generation of law, “Such a need arose at a very early stage in the development of society, i.e., the daily repetition of the production, distribution and exchange of products should be bound by a common rule, so that individuals could obey the common conditions of production and exchange. The rule first appeared as custom, and soon became law. With the emergence of law, there should inevitably be an organ responsible for maintaining law, i.e., the state. With the further development of society, the law further developed into more or less extensive legislation.” In a word, human needs are the foundation for the emergence of law. “Man's consciousness of his existence, his concern about his life issues, and his sense of uncertainty about the future and insecurity about life and death, fortune and misfortune, power and impulse led him to create law.”

II. The alienation of law made law become force of alienation that blocked human development

Since law is a system of rules created by human beings based on the needs of survival and development, the relationship between law and human is not the contradiction between subject and object, but the coordination and unity of subject and object. In other words, human is both the subject and the purpose of law; Law is a tool of human, and a means to meet human needs, maintain human survival and promote human development. If law does not start from and aim at human, it will fall into alienation since it loses its fundamental value. Seen from the historical perspective, the alienation of law is mainly manifested in two forms, i.e., the deification and the materialization of law. The so-called deification of law refers to that law is based on gods, and gods become the source, subject, content and purpose of law. Law serves gods and becomes a tool for gods to rule people. The word “gods” here is used in a general sense, which refers to gods that appear in different images in various national cultures, such as God in Christianity, Allah in Islam, and “Heaven” and “Immortals” in traditional Chinese culture. The deification of law is a universal phenomenon in various countries in ancient society. Through careful analysis, we can find that the deification of law in ancient Greece mainly consists of three aspects: First, gods were taken as the source of law. Second, gods, justice and law were intertwined. Thirdly, gods were taken as the purpose of law, and acts the will of the gods would be severely punished. As “the first universal law of society of commodity producers”, Roman law not only specified the legal relations of the owners of simple commodities, but also stipulated that emperors had the privilege to protect the state religion, and those who did not believe in the state religion should be severely punished. The deification of law reached its peak in the Middle Ages. God became the ultimate source of all values; the Pope was God's representative on earth; religious power was higher than that of the monarchical power. Christian theology dominated everything; and “philosophy of law was also governed by the Church and its doctrines.” Law in ancient China was connected and unified with heavenly principles and feelings of man, which not only had a strong nature of gods, but also had a strong characteristic of human governance. The materialization of law refers to that law is materialoriented, i.e., law takes materials as the basis, the purpose and the driving force for development. Materials determine the generation, contents, development and changes of law. Materials here refer to commodities, currency, etc. The materialization of law is generated on the basis of opposing the deification of law, and it has undergone a process of gradual formation and development. The formation and development of the capitalist mode of production and the bourgeois revolution and construction on its basis not only liberated jurisprudence, but also needed it, which promoted the emergence of the world view of legal jurisdiction. Besides, the emphasis of natural jurists on property rights stimulated people's desire to pursue wealth. Making a comprehensive survey of the capitalist law, the materialization of law is highlighted in the following two aspects: First, the law aims to maintain the capitalist commodity economy. Second, the law takes protection of private property as the basic principle of law. Both the deification and the materialization of law distort the function and lose the humanistic spirit of law, restrict human survival, curb human development, and lead to “One Dimensional Man”. Obviously, this is not the intention of law, much less the position of jurisprudence. How to get rid of the alienation state of law and return to man has become a subject that shall be solved for the further development of law and jurisprudence.

III. The return of law to human has provided a strong guarantee for allround development of human beings

The return of law to human refers to that law gets rid of the state as a tool to enslave human beings, and restores to the original state with human as the subject, the purpose and the driving force. Law is no longer the force of alienation of human, but a means to maintain human survival and promote human development. The return of law to human requires certain conditions. As for the return of law to human, China's socialist system has laid a solid institutional foundation and the leadership of the Communist Party of China has provided a solid political guarantee. Currently, China's development has entered a period of coexistence of strategic opportunities and risks and challenges. The people's demands for democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, security and the environment are constantly increasing. We must comprehensively promote the rule of law under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, give the guarantee role of the rule of law in strengthening the foundation, stabilizing expectations and benefiting the long-term to full play, and provide more powerful law guarantee for the all-round development of human beings. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law is a theoretical system created in accordance with the practical requirements and development trend of China's comprehensive promotion of law-based governance in the new era. It not only has profound philosophy, governance and jurisprudence, but also has rich contents; “adhering to putting the people at the center” is its core meaning. In order to comprehensively promote lawbased governance by taking Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as fundamental principle, first, we shall adhere to the principle of rule of law centered on the people, make it clear that the fundamental purpose of the rule of law is to protect the rights and interests of the people in accordance with the law. We shall implement the work of promoting the people's interests, reflecting their aspirations, protecting their rights and interests, and improving their well-being in the whole process and in all areas of comprehensive promotion of law-based governance, actively respond to the people's new demands and expectations, and constantly enhance the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and safety. The Plan to Build the Rule of Law in China (2020-2025) issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stipulates six main principles for the construction of the rule of law, and “adhering to putting the people at the center” is listed as the third principle. Second, we shall adhere to the process of the rule of law of people's democracy. The people are most extensive and deepest foundation for the comprehensive promotion of law-based governance. “adhering to the people as the master of the country and developing people's democracy, closely contacting the masses, and relying closely on the people to promote national development” is a significant advantage of national system and governance system of China, and “developing the wholeprocess people's democracy” is an important issue for China's new journey for democratic political construction in the new era. To uphold people's democracy in the whole process of the operation of rule of law, it is necessary to adhere to the views of the masses and the mass line, attach importance to people's participation, reflect public opinion, concentrate people's wisdom, and ensure that the majority of the people, under the leadership of Communist Party of China, manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings, and manage social affairs through various channels and forms. Third, we shall improve the level of legalization of human rights protection in all directions. The report of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed the important issue of “following a Chinese path of human rights development, actively participate in global human rights governance, and promoting all-around development of the human rights cause”. To promote the issue, we need to improve the human rights legislation, so as to enrich the contents of legal human rights and diversify the guarantee modes. Moreover, we should improve the mechanism of power supervision, ensure the normative exercise of power, and prevent power from infringing on rights; we should improve the right relief mechanism, including administrative and judicial relief mechanisms, so that citizens' violated rights can be restored to the level before the violation through relief. Moreover, we should take an active part in international human rights activities, conduct human rights dialogues, and participate in international human rights protection while safeguarding national sovereignty.

Dear leaders and colleagues, law has evolved from human to force of alienation alienated as human, and then to return to human, indicating that the relationship between law and human has experienced a process from mechanical coordination to conflict and opposition and then to harmony and unity. It is an inevitable trend of law development to realize the harmony and unity of law and all-round development of human being. It is necessary for us to work together to follow the trend of legal development, promote Good Law and Good Governance, and give full play to the due functions of law to serve and benefit people. Thank you!

Excerpt from He Shiqing's Speech at the "Forum on Global Human Rights Governance".