The Re-emergence of Family Law 111 Marriage Law 19502 and the Marriage Registration Regulations 1955.3 A decade or so later various legislative,judicial and administrative developments have altered dramatically the official normative frame- work within which Chinese marriage and family exist.The principal legislative developments governing marriage and family life are easy enough to detect,although they seem to have succeeded in escaping the attention of many social scientists concerned with questions of modern Chinese marriage and family.3 A revised Marriage Laws and reformed Marriage Registration Regulations were introduced in 1980,7 with the latter being replaced by a revamped version in 1986*and then superseded in February 1994 by Regulations for the Administration of Marriage Registration'-having also been strengthened by a Supreme People's Court interpretation in 1989.10 In 1985,a Law of Inheritance was adopted, albeit accompanied by a certain amount of political debate.1 Another controversial area-divorce-was also subject to an important Supreme footnote continued rules publicly available.It is difficult to make precise judgments about these developments, however,if only because a significant quantity of regulation in this and other areas of law is still not available to the ordinary Chinese citizen. 2.Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo hunyin fa (Marriage Law of the PRC)1980.in Zhongguo falu nianjian bianjibu(Editorial Department of the Law Yearbook of China). Zhongguo falu nianjian 1987 (Law Yearbook of China 1987)(Beijing:Falu chubanshe,1987). pp.168-69. 3.For a discussion and translated text of the 1955 Marriage Registration Regulations see M.van der Valk,"The registration of marriage in Communist China,"Monumenta Serica, Vol.XVI,Nos..1-2(1957),Pp.347-359. 4.By"administrative developments"I refer in particular to the administrative apparatus that has been put in place after the decollectivization of agriculture and,more specifically. to the establishment of administrative structures for such matters as birth planning,marriage registration and so on. 5.The Marriage Law 1980 and the Inheritance Law 1985 are the codes which have attracted the greatest attention.The single-child policy has,of course,given rise to a flood of writing,but surprisingly little attention has been given to the structure and wider significance of the various provincial regulations on birth limitation. 6.Marriage Law of the PRC 1980. 7.Hunyin dengji banfa(Marriage Registration Regulations)1980,in Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo fagui huibian (Collected Laws and Regulations of the People's Republic of China)(Beijing:Falu chubanshe,1981),pp.70-71. 8.Hunyin dengji banfa (Marriage Registration Regulations)1986,in Zhongguo fali nianjian 1987,pp.283-85. 9.Hunyin dengji guanli tiaoli (Regulations for the Administration of Marriage Registration)1994,Fazhi ribao (Legal System Daily),27 February 1994,p.2. 10.Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Zuigao Renmin Fayuan(Supreme People's Court of the PRC)."Guanyu renmin fayuan shenli wei ban jiehun dengji er yi fu-qi mingyi tongju shenghuo anjian de ruogan yijian"("Some Opinions regarding cases tried by people's courts in which couples have lived together as husband and wife without carrying out marriage registration"),in Zhongguo falu nianjian bianjibu,Zhongguo fali nianjian 1990 (Law Yearbook of China 1990)(Beijing:Falu chubanshe,1990).pp.698-99. 11.Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo jicheng fa (Inheritance Law of the PRC)1985,in Zhongguo falui nianjian 1987,pp.257-279.On the introduction of the Inheritance Law 1985 see Michael Palmer."China's new Inheritance Law:some preliminary observations,"in S. Feuchtwang,A.Hussain and T.Pairault (eds.),Transforming China's Economy in the Eighties,Volume I:The Rural Sector,Welfare and Employment (Boulder,CO:Westview Press.1988),pp.169-197. Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core.Shanghai JiaoTong University,on 15 Oct 2016 at 08:21:12,subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use available at http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms.http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/50305741000032938The Re-emergence of Family Law 111 Marriage Law 19502 and the Marriage Registration Regulations 1955.3 A decade or so later various legislative, judicial and administrative developments4 have altered dramatically the official normative frame￾work within which Chinese marriage and family exist. The principal legislative developments governing marriage and family life are easy enough to detect, although they seem to have succeeded in escaping the attention of many social scientists concerned with questions of modern Chinese marriage and family.5 A revised Marriage Law6 and reformed Marriage Registration Regulations were introduced in 1980,7 with the latter being replaced by a revamped version in 19868 and then superseded in February 1994 by Regulations for the Administration of Marriage Registration9 - having also been strengthened by a Supreme People's Court interpretation in 1989.1(l In 1985, a Law of Inheritance was adopted, albeit accompanied by a certain amount of political debate." Another controversial area - divorce - was also subject to an important Supreme footnote continued rules publicly available. It is difficult to make precise judgments about these developments, however, if only because a significant quantity of regulation in this and other areas of law is still not available to the ordinary Chinese citizen. 2. Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo hunyin fa (Marriage Law of the PRC) 1980, in Zhongguo falii nianjian bianjibu (Editorial Department of the Law Yearbook of China), Zhongguofalii nianjian 1987 (Law Yearbook of China 1987) (Beijing: Falii chubanshe, 1987), pp. 168-69. 3. For a discussion and translated text of the 1955 Marriage Registration Regulations see M. van der Valk, "The registration of marriage in Communist China," Monumenta Serica, Vol. XVI, Nos. 1-2 (1957), pp. 347-359. 4. By "administrative developments" I refer in particular to the administrative apparatus that has been put in place after the decollectivization of agriculture and, more specifically, to the establishment of administrative structures for such matters as birth planning, marriage registration and so on. 5. The Marriage Law 1980 and the Inheritance Law 1985 are the codes which have attracted the greatest attention. The single-child policy has, of course, given rise to a flood of writing, but surprisingly little attention has been given to the structure and wider significance of the various provincial regulations on birth limitation. 6. Marriage Law of the PRC 1980. 7. Hunyin dengji banfa (Marriage Registration Regulations) 1980, in Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo fagui huibian (Collected Laws and Regulations of the People's Republic of China) (Beijing: Falii chubanshe, 1981), pp. 70-71. 8. Hunyin dengji banfa (Marriage Registration Regulations) 1986, in Zhongguo falii nianjian 1987, pp. 283-85. 9. Hunyin dengji guanli tiaoli (Regulations for the Administration of Marriage Registration) 1994, Fazhi ribao (Legal System Daily), 27 February 1994, p. 2. 10. Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Zuigao Renmin Fayuan (Supreme People's Court of the PRC). "Guanyu renmin fayuan shenli wei ban jiehun dengji er yi fu-qi mingyi tongju shenghuo anjian de ruogan yijian" ("Some Opinions regarding cases tried by people's courts in which couples have lived together as husband and wife without carrying out marriage registration"), in Zhongguo falii nianjian bianjibu, Zhongguo falii nianjian 1990 (Law Yearbook of China 1990) (Beijing: FalU chubanshe, 1990), pp. 698-99. 11. Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo jicheng fa (Inheritance Law of the PRC) 1985, in Zhongguofalii nianjian 1987, pp. 257-279. On the introduction of the Inheritance Law 1985 see Michael Palmer. "China's new Inheritance Law: some preliminary observations, " in S. Feuchtwang, A. Hussain and T. Pairault (eds.), Transforming China's Economy in the Eighties, Volume I: The Rural Sector, Welfare and Employment (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1988), pp. 169-197. , available at http:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305741000032938 Downloaded from http:/www.cambridge.org/core. Shanghai JiaoTong University, on 15 Oct 2016 at 08:21:12, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use