The Study Of The Department Of Civil Affairs In The Early Republic Of China (1912—1916)

The Department of Civil Affairs is the working office to assist the central authorities to deal with legal affairs in the Beijing government of the early Republic of China,whose precursor can be traced back to the Constitutional Compilation Bureau and the Cabinet of the legal Court in the late Qing Dynasty. During the reign of Yuan Shih-Kai, the Department of Civil Affairs had been adjusted by four times and the main function and the allocation of staff had taken changes along with the development of the political situation. As the Core institutions of drawing up the Laws and the Rules in the early Republic of China, the Department of Civil Affairs played a part and drafted all types of drafts with official system in the central administration and the local government.These drafts were prone to be amended in the different times and institutions,which caused the differences of texts and tend to imply the situation,political strength,and the complicated interest relationship and had a profound impact on the political trend in the early Republic of China. Furthermore,the Department of Civil Affairs worked together with the Department of Justice,continuing to promote the process of judicial independence.Neither its secondary organization—Codification organization,nor its participation in the reformation of judicial officials management system,the Department of Civil Affairs had done whatever it can do to assist,and compromised and reconciled in the ideal and reality.Generally speaking,during the four years of Yuan's reign, the Department of Civil Affairs had drafted a number of new laws and regulations,established the basic framework of the Republic of China, and made great contributions to the building of a modern country ruled by law.However, the entanglement of the old and new systems, the dispute and the game between the various political forces, had made the Department of Civil Affairs involved in the vortex of political struggle.The staff of the Department of Civil Affairs were almost returned student who had a good command of law knowledge.However,when they were faced with Legislative principles formulated by governors and the reality of the state,these legal elites had to made the will of people in power institutionalized and written. With the change of political situation,the laws and decrees were modified over and over again,which opened the way for the breaking the law and making the law of Yuan and the restoration of the empire. Considering the reasons, they could all be attributed to one point characteristics of the era of institutional transformation.It was the limitations of the times of transition rather than the drawbacks of the Department of Civil Affairs own itself.