From Parallel To Integration

The concept of Customary Law of Minority combines the religion, morality,taboo with law. Under the Chinese tradition of thousands of years, the ethnic districtsalways keep their outstanding characteristics and have their own logic and behaviors.Therefore, Customary Law of Minority plays a significant role in the ethnic districts.However, the state legislation which is one of the governing means comes into beingand starts to be influential. In accordance with the statistics of the researches on thespot, the courts in the ethnic districts used to make mediation to solve the disputes onthe purpose of avoiding suits under the traditional culture. With the development ofthe state legislation, the number of the cases taken by the courts in the ethnic districtsstarts to increase. This essay will elaborate on the influences the state legislation hason the ethnic districts in three parts.First of all, the traditional dispute-solving framework under Customary Law ofMinority will be introduced. The ethnic districts had their own means to solve thedisputes before the state legislation was involved, which became the research objectsof the scholars. In history, the scriptures which were recorded in written, oral andother traditional ways become the important documents in the researches of minoritylaw. They could be divided into two parts, including traditions in substantial law andtraditional culture of law of the ethnic districts which are introduced by customaryjudgments.Secondly, the situation of the judicial work in the past in the ethnic districts willbe compared to that in the present. It will reflect that the ‘acquaintance society’ insmall-scale peasant economy was impacted because of the coming into being of thecommercial economy. With the development of the society, the increasing number oflaw is introduced to the districts. People in ethnic districts are more and more familiarwith law so that they changed their ideas about suits. Thirdly, two specific cases will be stated to show that the national judicial organstake ‘respect but not concede’ attitudes toward the cases concerning the customs inethnic districts and the approbation of people in ethnic districts toward the statelegislation is enhanced. Actually, the ethnic people’s approbation on the officialjudgments means the approbation on the culture of the state legislation. At last, theconcept of ‘cultural nepotism’ will be introduced in this part. It means that the singlecase will be regarded as a point through which the recognition of culture will becompleted. After that, the approbation of the whole system will be approached.Therefore, the official documents provided by the state will be very authoritative.Nevertheless, only relying on the state legislation is not sufficient. The ethniccustoms play the significant role in the development of the society. As a result, thelogic of the ethnic customs should be emphasized because they are the root. Eventhough the state legislation is quite different from Customary Law of Minority andthey conflicts with each other sometimes, the margin between them is not absolute.Any state legislations learn from the rules and systems of the public. Customary Lawof Minority should not be regarded as opposing to the state legislation and shall not bepanic for its anomie because of the bringing in of the state legislation. It has a longprocess for people to choose the state legislation, including the recognition of thelegal culture and the approbation on the national system. The state legislation is boundto supplement Customary Law of Minority in the practice and Customary Law ofMinority will gradually merged with the state legislation which is the mainstreamculture.