Marriage Law - Constants and Transformations during 30 Years of the PRC

The purpose of the thesis is to describe how marriage and the bonds of wedlock were regulated in the period from 1950 to 1980 in the People's Republic of China, focusing especially on the roles of the two Marriage Laws. The aim is to compare these sources of law, describe the development of marriage law in this area and identify major differences in regulation. The Introduction presents basic terminology used in the thesis, lists the principal legal institutions and describes the nature of modern Chinese law. The thesis consists of two main chapters, each dealing with one of the documents, its authorship, formation and structure. In addition to the marriage and its dissolution, the impedimenta, the matrimonial property and the children born out of wedlock are discussed in great deal. Chapter One examines the Marriage Law 1950, chapter Two the Marriage Law 1980. Conclusion summarizes the thesis purpose and produce, illustrates which institutions of Chinese family law changed and which of them were stable from 1950 till 1980. The thesis also refers which material and subject of Chinese family law I would like to elaborate in the future. The thesis includes the text of both Laws in Chinese and the list of frequently used vocabulary related to the Chinese family law