On the Dual Role of the Family and Its Legal Definition:Traditional Foundations and Contemporary Interpretations
The existence of family is prior to that of civil society and political state.As a legal con-cept,it is the state's normative description of the existing ethical order of family.From a historical perspective,the family has played a dual role as the embodiment of ethical order and unit of state governance in both traditional and contemporary China.Followed by the state in its normative de-scriptions,the logic differs between the two roles,so do the boundaries of the concept of family.As the embodiment of ethical order,the family is the purpose of governance in itself,whose concept should be strictly defined according to Articles 1045 and 1050 of The Civil Codes.As the basic unit of state governance,however,the family serves as a tool to achieve other purposes of governance and its boundaries should be defined as to the exact purpose of governance accordingly.In addition,the concept of family allows a third interpretation marking the boundary between the family ethical system and other systems.The delineation of the boundaries of the family here requires specific a-nalysis on a case-by-case basis.
FamilyTraditional ChinaContemporary ChinaCarrier of ethical orderUnit of state governanceThe Civil Codes
万方数据
维普
