Perfecting Legal System of Marriage and Family, Promoting Social Civilization and Progress

The article says that the decision on the revision of the Marriage Law adopted by the 21st Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) on the afternoon of April 28 is a major legislative measure for further improving the system of marriage and family, it is a major event in the marriage, family and social life of the Chinese people. The revision and supplement made to the Marriage Law in line with this decision are necessary for guaranteeing citizens' rights and interests of marriage and family and for promoting the stability, civilization and progress of marriage, family and the whole society.

The commentary reveals that the text of the draft of the revised Marriage Law had been made public to the society to extensively solicit opinions. The whole process of revising the Law represents another important practice of China's legislative democratization.

The commentary notes that the Marriage Law is one of the basic laws of civil affairs and the basic norm of marriage and family relations. China's marriage legislation has a long revolutionary tradition, a distinct socialist nature and a strong national characteristic, and it has formed and developed in the process of abolishing the feudal marriage and family system and establishing the new democratic and socialist marriage and family system. The Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China passed in 1950 was the law with basic legal nature first promulgated after the founding of New China in 1949. The Marriage Law was further revised this time on the basis of the 1980 revised Marriage Law in accordance with the practical experiences and in light of the new circumstances and new problems emerged in the field of marriage and family. The revised Law, which is based on the Constitution, has strengthened the legal adjustment of the marriage relations, added some stipulations on concrete issues concerning relations of person and property in the field of marriage and family, it conforms with China's national conditions, reflects the wishes of the general public, and represents an important achievement gained in the construction of China's legal system of marriage and family.

The article points out that in the General Provisions, the revised Marriage Law reaffirms the principle of marriage freedom, monogamy, equality between men and women, the protection of the legal rights and interests of women, children and senior citizens, and the practice of family planning.; at the same time, it also adds the provisions that embody the legislative purpose, such as that husband and wife should be faithful to and respecting each other as well as safeguarding the marriage and family relations featuring equality, harmony and civilization. In provisions concerning sex-related prohibition, it adds stipulations on the prohibition of those with spouses from cohabiting with others and of family violence, thus intensifying efforts to safeguard the system of monogamy and protecting the personal rights of family members, at the same time, through other legal measures it provides a basic legal foundation for curbing such law-breaking acts.

The article discloses that the revised Marriage Law adds a number of concrete systems and concrete stipulations, such as the invalidity and cancellation of marriage, the scope of jointly- owned and individually-owned estates as set in the statutory conjugal property system, the agreement and effectiveness of conjugal property, the concrete statutory reasons for divorce, the fault indemnity system at the time of divorce, etc. All these stipulations have, to some extent, filled the blank of previous legislation, enriched the contents of marriage legislation, thus improving China's marriage system, family system and divorce system. On questions regarding the division of property at the time of divorce, the upbringing and education of children after divorce, as well as legal liability for breaching the Marriage Law, the stipulations of the revised Marriage Law are more concrete, detailed and clear than the original ones.

The commentary says in conclusion that the revised Marriage Law has been republished. The various departments concerned shall each perform their functions, work with concerted efforts, lose no time in doing the work of publicity and implementation of the Marriage Law well and set off an upsurge in this regard. The general public should learn and know this Law and regard the revised Marriage Law as the code of conduct in their marriage and family life. The publicity of this legal system should be effectively integrated with education in socialist marriage and family morality. We are convinced that through construction of the legal system and morality in the field of marriage and family, the marriage and family life of the general public will definitely be more happy and satisfactory and our society will surely be more civilized, progressive and stable.






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