To administer a nation according to law and construct a socialist legal state is the administration method and policy of China. This requires a consummate legal system, in which procedural law is included and its effective functioning. Compared with substantive law, procedural law is often ignored in both theory and application. An important common point in the experience of all the legal states in the world is the emphasis of process and procedural law. Therefore, procedural law and its functioning state should be emphasized in China.Traditional Chinese legal system made no distinction between substantive law and procedural law, which was not well-developed. This situation lasted till the ending period of Qing dynasty when the ruler, who strongly affected by advanced western legal culture, began to study and adopt western legal system. An independent procedural law came into being. During the reform and opening impelled by market economy, procedural law was more consummated, and fundamentally modernized. Even so, it's not strictly executed as the idea of it is backward.There are a lot of obstacles in the functioning of procedural law in china, in which method illegality, step illegality, and time illegality are main phenomenon. These phenomena threaten and breach the authority of law, hence seriously impede the construction of legal state. Following are the reasons for the breach of procedural law: 1. Economy. China had been a society in which market economy was poorly developed for a long time. Natural economy is a close economy in which people know each other and act on the basis of personal confidence but not process. 2. Restricted by political system. 3. Traditional Chinese legal culture. Chinese people care result more than process. 4. The punishment of procedural illegality is notforceful enough to prevent it.It requires a series of methods to defend procedural law and prevent procedural illegality. 1. Reconstruct the idea of procedural law. Procedural law is traditionally viewed as the means of realizing substantive law. It's impossible to realize procedural law and rule of law without the modernization of the idea. 2. Establish the evaluating criteria of legal procedure. Enforce the supervision during the functioning of procedural law. There is close relationship between slack supervision and procedural illegalities. The enforcement of the former is an important measure to prevent the latter. Combine effective punishment with proper reward. 3. Consummate procedural law and ensure the authority of it. The consummation of legislation is an important measure of preventing the procedural illegality. 4. Take efforts to publicize procedural law. It's possible for a law to actually be abolished because ofinsufficient publicity. In addition to above, to take efforts to develop market economy essentially guarantees the functioning of procedural law. |