Basic aspects of legal interpretation in the Chinese legal order

Chinese legal culture was shaped in a different way than Western legal culture, these differences have a significant impact on the rule of law, fundamental rights and democracy in contemporary China. Legal interpretation is one of the formal sources of law in China. The authority to interpret legislation is usually characterized as a legislative rather than a judicial function. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the State Council and the Supreme People’s Court have a special role in interpretive activities. Chinese legal interpretation includes semantic rules, the cultural and linguistic context of law, basic constitutional principles, the hierarchy of sources of law and reasoning by analogy