“PARADOX OF ENGLISH LAND LAW” — AN ENLIGHTENMENT TO LAND LAW REFORM IN CHINA

Abstract

Since the founding of New China in 1949, the land law system with Chinese characteristics has been formed based on various practices, inter alia, the evolution of the rural land law system from the agrarian reform to the cooperative and people’s communes and further to the household contract responsibility system, which made historical contributions to the development of Chinese social economy. However, with the development of the practices and the deepening of the reform, China’s land law system is facing great challenges under the new circumstances. Although many differences exist between English land law and Chinese land law in the areas of legal form, the regulated objects and contents, English land law can provide some beneficial enlightenment to China’s land law reform. Particularly, the “paradox of English land law,” which presents the way how the English land law, as the law adjusting the basic property relations with many traditional factors, responds to the process of social and economic development with leaps and bounds.

Key words： English land law; land law reform in China; interaction of law and economy