Experience and characteristics of the current implementation of the constitution

Abstract. The constitution is the fundamental law of the state， and is the general constitution to safeguard a country. Its implementation plays an important role for a country to maintain unity， keep a stable regime， safeguard the people's rights and freedom， improve the democracy and rule of law and promote economic development and social progress. This paper discusses the current constitution four amendment processes and its characteristics， which fully demonstrate China's "the constitution is a piece of paper with the rights of the people".

Key words： Current constitution； implementation； experience； characteristics； modification； keeping pace with the times

1. Introduction

On December 4， 1982， the fifth session of the Fifth National People's Congress adopted "the constitution of the people's Republic of China" （hereinafter referred to as the current constitution） and so far it has been more than 20 years. The practice has proved that in 20 years， the current constitution is an accord constitution with the situation of our country， and has played an important role in the national political， economic， cultural and social life. With the continuous development of the reform and opening up and socialist modernization， in 1988 （a meeting of the seventh session of the National People's Congress）， in 1993 （a meeting of the eighth session of the National People's Congress）， in 1999 （the second session of the ninth national people's Congress）， and in 2004 （the second session of the tenth National People's Congress）， we made some necessary changes of the current constitution of the individual terms and part of the contents， making the current constitution content more complete. Grasping the key ideas and characteristics of the current constitutional amendment is of great and historical significance for the understanding of the political civilization construction in our country and especially the construction of the legal system.

2. The main achievements in the implementation of the current constitution for 30 years

2-1. The basic strategy of the ruling of the Chinese people in administering the country and the basic ruling way of the CPC is clear.

Rule of law is so far the best governance model. The road of socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics clearly is formed by the Chinese Communist Party led by the Chinese people after the exploration of the most important governing strategy， and is the current constitution of our country to carry out one of the most important achievements for 30 years. However， the formation and development of the road of socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is not accomplished at one stroke， but along with the implementation of the present constitution step by step.

2-2. The basic spirit of modern constitution and the constitutionalism have won support among the people.

"Restrict the state power， safeguard the rights of citizens" is the basic spirit of the constitution and constitutionalism. In the current implementation of the Constitution in 30 years， people are really aware that our national power is increasingly towards the programmed， standardized and institutionalized direction and our basic civil rights protection are increasingly reinforced. The modern constitution and the constitutional spirit therefore win more support among the people. On the one hand， China has strengthened the regulation and control of the state organs， state power operation organization and behavior law， substantive law and procedural law construction. On the other hand， the people's congresses at all levels have strengthened the administration of supervision and “the Procuratorate” according to law and the fair justice has made great achievements.

2-3. The socialist constitutional system with Chinese characteristics is constantly improved.

The Chinese characteristic socialist constitutional system is becoming more and more perfect with the people's Congress system as the core， to the multi-party cooperation and political consultation system， the system of regional ethnic autonomy， grass-roots mass self-government system， the system of the Special Administrative Region as the backbone. Since the implementation of the Constitution 30 years ago， we have been improving the progress of China's people's Congress system with the reform and perfecting the electoral system as the center， to form the people's Congress and its standing committee， the NPC and its construction "bicameral" benign power order as the basic point. The legalization is advanced and developed with the multi-party cooperation and political consultation system， the system of regional ethnic autonomy， the grass-roots mass self-government system as the basic political system of the Chinese characteristic socialism.

3. The main characteristics of the current constitution

3-1. The current constitutional adaptability

According to the Marx's concept of law， the constitution together with the other laws is based on certain social and economic base of the superstructure， and the economic base has undergone major changes， the superstructure of the law also should be timely changed. Especially the fundamental law of the state constitution should reflect the situation of economic development， to make the superstructure and the economic base adapted to each other and to guide and promote economic development. Therefore， the constitution is designed to solve the fundamental problems of specific periods of society， and its content is determined by the social conditions at that time. The current constitution of our country has made four changes in the past 20 years； a very important reason is that China's social and economic situation has undergone tremendous changes in this period， so the constitutional amendment must adapt to it.

3-2. The current constitution

Due to the limitation of the legislative body， the legislative technical aspects， as well as constitutional technology is not mature， the constitution has many defects. Therefore， with the enhancement of people's cognitive ability and the increasing development of science and technology， hidden defects will be exposed to social reality， so it must be to amend the constitution in order to adapt to social development. At the same time， the guiding ideology of the formulation of the constitution should be catching words to avoid problems in the logic. For example， in the 2004 constitutional amendment from the constitutionalism technology point of view， there may be a problem that we just add the important thought to "Three Represents"， while the Marx doctrine， Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping theory have no such rhetorical， which will make the expression logic undistributed problem of the interpretation of the Constitution and regulate.

3-3. Trapping of the current constitution

The constitutional amendment to amend the constitution， the constitutional amendment to the amendment form， according to the historical order in the constitutional text， is conducive to the historical continuity of constitutional development， which can reflect clearly a constitutional development process. In a constitutional amendment technical country， if we study the text of the constitution， we can understand the constitution at the beginning of the origin， and can also see the constitutional norm evolution in the whole process， from which we can understand the essence and development of the country's constitutionalism. The United States members of Congress know this function which the constitutional amendment has， proposed a constitutional amendment to amend the Constitution when it was at the time. Although the United States Constitution was set in more than 200 years ago， after modification， reading the context of the Constitution can enable us to understand the history of the Constitution change of the United States， and it also proved this point in practice. Therefore， the constitutional amendment is the spirit of the constitution and the principle of continuous function.

3-4. The universal current constitution

The constitution of the western capitalist countries is the tool of maintenance of bourgeois rule， while China's socialist constitution has substantial distinction， but for the Western way of amending the constitution， we have to study according to the actual situation in China. So China's 1988 constitutional amendment adopted the way of constitutional amendment. Some scholars think that this is the America's constitutional way， better than the revision of the constitution of France， the Soviet Union and China in the past.

Because the French used to modify the way in history， after the French bourgeois revolution， in 1791 the first constitution was enacted； thereafter， through more than ten times of the comprehensive revision of the constitution， the constitution is the fifth republic constitution in 1958. After the 1789 France revolution， the political situation was of turbulence， and the 80 years from 1791 to 1870 experienced a republic and the imperial alternatively， which has had eight constitutions in this process. The United States Constitution differs by the amendment. The United States Constitution was passed in 1787， and now it is still in use. For more than 200 years America has adopted amendment， which is conducive to maintaining the stability of the constitution. The constitutional amendment is adaptable in the world.

4. The main experience of the implementation of current constitution

4-1. The rules of law and the ruling by the constitution are mainly based on the principles.

①The constitution and legal supreme idea has not been to establish in the Party， and the constitution belief in the rule of law of broad Party members needs to be enhanced. "Authoritarian ruling" in the thinking of the cadre of partial party member consciousness is still ingrained， "rule of man" shadow id still displaced. And with it， the phenomenon is often seen on the right on behalf of the law， the abuse of power from ruling by law， ruling by the constitution.

②The construction of the Party of the rule of law in China has not been launched， and the ruling by law and the ruling by constitution lack supporting of the effective law system. The Chinese Communist Party is the ruling party in China， and is the core of leadership in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Therefore， the socialist rule of law should be the ruling party and the rule of law. However， the construction of party ruled by law is lagging at present in our country， and the party's ruling by law and the ruling by the constitution has not been institutionalized.

4-2. The implementation protection of the constitution needs to be strengthened.

①The non specialized security authority of the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee weakened the actual effect of the constitution implementation. The National People's Congress and its Standing Committee have very complicated affairs of state， unable to concentrate on the implementation of supervision and safeguard of the constitution， so that many important problems involving the implementation of the constitution protection are often overlooked.

②The implementation of the constitution guarantee of the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee lacks support system of substantive and procedural law； in addition， the current construction of our country people's Congress and its Standing Committee is still not perfect， so that the constitution supervision of the NPC and its Standing Committee is relatively weak， unable to produce a due effect.

③Other relevant organs and organizations have not played their due responsibilities to implement security functions in the process of the constitution. The implementation of the constitution guarantee itself is a complex project. The specialized agencies should shoulder the primary responsibilities， and other related authorities or organizations should play a corresponding role. But the implementation functions of other organs of our country in the process of security are not developed in the constitution.

4-3. Protection of basic civil rights has yet to be fully implemented.

①The absolute protection of the fundamental rights of citizens is not implemented in practice. Generally speaking， the basic rights of citizens not only can directly depend on the constitution of security， namely absolute security； but also are indirectly protected according to general laws， namely relative security. However， in practical terms， the absolute guarantee mechanism of citizen's rights is in the steady state in practice， and only the ordinary law limited relief mechanism.

②The protection of basic civil rights should be the law department to implement and refine. China's constitution stipulates the basic rights of citizens more widely， but to be refined， real department law strengthening accounts for only a part of them， which is obviously not conducive to the protection of a comprehensive and specific achievement of the basic civil rights.

4-4. Administration according to law and justice need further advancement.

①The administration of the law needs to be further strengthened. On the one hand， China's current administrative staff awareness of the rule of law is weak， which has not yet been set up on the value cognition of administration according to the law； on the other hand， legal regulation and legal supervision of administrative power in our country is still to be strengthened. In addition， China's administrative accountability mechanism is not perfect.

②To further promote judicial fairness. On the one hand， the judicial team judicial ability construction still lags behind， and not yet establishes the subject conditions sufficient for the realization of judicial justice； On the other hand， the situation of judicial independence is not ideal. Judges and procuratorial power are largely influenced by all aspects， and the independence of the judiciary is facing many challenges. In addition， the judicial corruption has happened repeatedly， and the rent-seeking phenomenon of this kind of judicial power greatly damaged the justice of judicature.

4-5. The civic education lacks in particular.

①Civic education lacks scientific cognition. Perfect citizenship education should be both moral education and literacy education. However， the moral education of the citizen education of our country tends to focus on the civil law， and literacy education for citizens isn't paid enough attention to. However， the results of one-sided focus on moral education were reduced to a form of education and examination-oriented education in practice， and cannot achieve the good shaping effect of the citizen consciousness or awareness.

②Civic education ignores the cultural concept. To a large extent， the citizens mistake the education as humanistic knowledge， or the propagation of the constitution， laws and regulations. The penetration of the cultural ideas is neglected. So， it is very difficult to let the citizens recognize the civic education accreditation， and identity the modern rule of law culture.

4-6. The constitution theory needs further study.

①Research on the constitution is wide but not deep， complex but not perfect. The current constitution of our country involved in the field is constantly expanding， but more is tested， lack of depth of excavation. Despite the various research perspectives have emerged， such as the standard constitution， constitutional interpretation， historical constitution theory advocates to emerge， but between different propositions are the lack of healthy competition， learning from each other， common grinding courage， and form the theory that hinder the profound constitutional theory and system of constitutional jurisprudence.

② The prospective and research orientation of constitutional jurisprudence are not enough. The current constitution theory has greater lag， which is more passive causing the existing constitution phenomenon， and lack adequate guidance and forward-looking of socialist constitutionalism construction.

5. Conclusion

The constitution is the jack of the state like the rock and the cauldron. Chinese Vice President of the society of constitution， constitutional law professor Zhang Qianfan in Peking University said that legislative work will complete property law in the people's Congress tenure. Property law come down in one continuous line with a recent constitutional amendment in the legislative spirit， which is the respect for the Constitution and implement. The legislative process of China has become the best reflection of the spirit of the constitution. Therefore， the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics is great and arduous. Whether it is to deepen the reform or to speed up development is facing some new topics we have never met. We don't have all the answers to the future. But we can take the important thoughts of Marxism-Leninism， Mao Zedong thought， Deng Xiaoping theory， Jiang Zemin "Three Represents" as the banner， carry forward the amending the constitution of the spirit and characteristics of the development theory and innovation theory in practice， and constantly improve the legal system construction in China.

6.Acknowledgements

Fund source： The major project of Sichuan Provincial Education Department： "Research on the financial constitution livelihood orient"， Project number： 13SA0134

References

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