Proceed In Hardship

Transmitted into China in the 1980s, Law and economics, as an important academic school in the west, has exerted an great influence on the legal thoughts in China. This article reflects on law and economics in China after analysing the development, status quo and the significance of the subject from a perspective of the west and China, history and reality as well as the comparison between the theory and practice.The paper consists of four parts. The first part introduces the historical development of law and economics in the west, providing an comprehensive intellectual background for better understanding of this paper as well as an frame of reference for the research of law and economics in China. The second part mainly intends to describe the development of the law and economics in China after it has been transmitted into the country, aiming at illuminating the time background, historical conditions and development progress of the subject. The third part first emphasizes on the theoretical and practical significance of law and economics and then, also more important, analyzes comprehensively a number of problems existing in the development process of China's law and economics, after which some suggestions are given accordingly in the fourth part, further clarify the development path of China's law and economics.Part one: The Historical development of law and economics in the west.It is believed that the law and economics movement in the west can be divided into two phrase, namely the first wave and the second wave. The first wave shows that as early as the 1930s the core thoughts of law and economics were recognized though the first wave eventually fell into decline in lack of effective research methodology. The thoughts, however, did not disappear and was fully demonstrated in the second wave, starting from the 1930s and 40s. This second wave can be further divided into five phase ,namely the beginnings(1930s-50s), paradigm proposed (1958-1973), paradigm accepted (1973-1980), paradigm questioned (1976-1983) and the movement shaken (from 1983 onwards). Part two: historical development and the status quo of law and economics in China. This part includes:A. A complete description of the development of law and economics in China. Since 1980, the development of law and economics in China can be divided into three phases: the beginning stage(1980s) saw the tansimission of west law and economies into China through the introduction of some scholars. The initial development (1990-1998) witnessed more attention paid by the academic field to the research of law and economics in China. With the joint dedication of the legal and economic field, plentiful results were reached in the 1990s, specifically, the sharp increase of translation works and academic papers and the appearance of academic literature. From 1999 onwards, there has been a full development of law and economics in China and ground-breaking progress has been in some areas. During this stage,translation works have appeared in the form of series and a number of research institutions has been established. Great progress has also been made in discipline building and a few influential academic seminars are held.B. An analysis of the status quo of the research on law and economics in China. First, this paper has an overview of the research status quo of the law and economics in various legal departments and further points out that China has made some breakthroughs in case research and the legal transformation. Second, it is believed that the research status quo of law and economics in China has two main features: First, scholars in the economics field have played an more important role in the research than scholars in the legal field. Second, the overall research level is low with most of the research remaining in the introduction of law and economics in the west. Research on the practical level has just started, not to speak original research.Part Three: significance and dilemma of China's law and economics. This part includes:A. An detailed elucidation of the theoretical and practical significance of law and economics. It is believed that theoretically speaking, law and economics, as a new school of thoughts, offers an important frame of reference for the legal research in China, especially the unneglectable research methodology of law and economics. Moreover, from the part of practical level, it also has important significance concerning legal education, rules of law, legislative and judicial practice.B. An exposure of some of factors hampering the healthy development of law and economics in China. This further includes five aspects: First, the single value of efficiency as the main goal of law and economics has raised a lot of doubt. Second, lack of empirical analysis has made the research result too subjective. Third, estrangement between the field of economics and law has caused the defects in their respective research field. Forth, practical research is weak, resulting in the absence of duly application in practical field. Fifth, deficiency in the number of research scholars contributes to the slow and unmatured development of law and economics in China. Sixth, limitation of academic space has restrict the development of law and economics in China.Part Four, historical reflection on law and economics in China. This part include:A. Integrating various resources and strengthening discipline building. It is believed that the strengthening of discipline building can be done in the following three aspects: First, limits should be broken between discipline and communication be enhanced between the economic and legal field. Second, attention should be paid to the training of academic talents. Third, more academic resources should be provided to support research, to promote academic environment and to expand academic space.B. Setting foot on the present and researching the real world. In order to change the research status quo, Chinese scholars must change their research methodoly, according to the actual conditions in China, from a excessively theoretical approach to a more practical, question-oriented one. Moreover, attention should also be paid to the analysis of legal practice and the research of various legal departments, thus winning the recognition of the practical field and increasing its influence therein. C. Laying emphasis on methodology. Efforts can be made in the following four aspects: First, we should reflect on the philosophical basis of mainstream law and economics and properly absorb strong points of collectivism to offset the weak points of individualism. Second, more attention should be paid to the diversity of research methodology in order to avoid the limitation of single methodology. Third, we must pay more attention to transaction cost theory as it is the foundation of law and economics and can provide an unique angle for legal research. Forth, efforts should be made in terms of empirical and quantitative analysis so as to increase the objectivity and scientificity of the research results.As an emerging theory originated abroad, law and economicsit is yet to be perfected. Likewise, the research of law and economics in China is still in its initial phase, which calls for further clarification of the basic category of the subject, gradual promotion of the theoretical system, strengthening of the research content, improvement in research methodology and advancement in research level. However, the fact that words such as "efficiency", "cost", "price", "maximize fortune", "equity"and "resource allocation" has shown that law and economics has gained greater popularity. Whether we like or not, there has been a fast fact that law and economics is experiencing a rapid growth. The development of law and economics in china, though difficult, will proceed.