On the Constitutional Protection of Private Property in China: Evolution in the Era of Globalization and its Implication.

In this study, I have three main objectives. The first is to identify th e driving social forces that influence the evolution of legal reform in China with respect to private property during the era of globalisation. The second is to analyse the main constitutional issues with respect to the protection of private property in China. The third is to design and suggest feasible reform measures for the revision of the constitution an d the strengthening of the constitutional review mechanism. Correspondin gly, the following three questions are analysed. (1) What are the drivin g forces behind both globalisation and localisation that influence the e volution of private property protection in China? (2) How do public auth orities and courts in China apply the constitutional principles and rele vant rules concerning private property (three prongs) in cases regarding the taking of property? (3) What feasible and constructive reform measu res can be implemented to improve China’s private property protection th rough the application of the constitution? There are six chapters included. In Chapter I, the basic theories about and the constitutionalisation models of private property are outlined. T he research in this chapter is normative. In Chapter II, the historical review of the change to the constitutional and legal status of private p roperty in China reveals two facts. The first of these inspirations is t hat the globalisation process in China in the past more than 30 years ha s produced a stronger demand for a higher level of private property prot ection from both overseas investors and domestic citizens. The second fa ct is that the globalisation process strengthens the motivation of local governments to take private land right and houses. More accurately, the extent to which the constitution restricts eminent domain is decided by the change of the interaction between various social powers in the glob alisation process. The analysis in this chapter is descriptive. Chapters III, IV and V, which are based on the preceding normative and positive research, analyse three components or prongs of the eminent domain or ta king clause in the constitution. Chapter III discusses the public intere st test and its application in China’s context. Chapter IV is about the justness of compensation available to the takee. Chapter V analyses the procedural guarantees of private property and the accompanying instituti onal issues concerning constitutional review. The current shortness and inherent problems of the enforcement mechanism in China are identified. Finally, Chapter VI concludes the previous research and suggests feasibl e measures for China’s next step in strengthening its constitutional pro tection of private property.status: publishe