The current state of China’s legal system is a popular subject of on-going academic debate. Most observers of the Chinese legal system have identified China as a state of rule by law. A smaller but increasing number of analysts tend to describe China as a deficient form of the rule of law. Instead, this dissertation departs from both of the conventional views, and argues that the CCP China is a state of the transitive legal system, a middle category different from both the rule of law and rule by law state. / Arguing that the two existing models are inadequate to explain China’s legal system in the reform era since 1978, the purpose of the thesis is to develop a new model, which aims to provide a coherent interpretation of the paradoxical state of the Chinese legal system. Through definitional and doctrinal analysis of the concept of the rule of law, and inspired by Lon Fuller’s account of the “internal morality of law”, the thesis puts forward an analytical framework of legal systems comprising of two variables. One is the legitimacy type of a regime, the other the regime’s lawmaking competence. These two variables correspond to the two fundamental constitutive elements of the rule of law, i.e. the regime’s commitment to the law and the formal qualities of the law. By the two variables, legal systems can be divided into five stable categories, namely, the rule of law, the deficient rule of law, the transitive legal system, the rule by law, and rule of men. Different types of legitimacy and levels of lawmaking competence of a regime determine the category of its legal system. / In comparison to both rule by law systems whose legitimacy mainly rely on non-legal source(s), and deficient rule of law states whose legitimacy primarily depend on the formal law but whose lawmaking competence is restricted, the thesis argues that China’s legal system belongs to the category of the transitive legal system whose legitimacy (performance legitimacy in the case of reform China) is in a transitive relation to the formal law and whose lawmaking competence is restricted. While the rule by law model fails to explain why the CCP regime has proactively pursued a formal legal system, the deficient rule of law model is incapable of responding to the fact that the CCP regime has not been subjected to institutionalized constraints of the law. The transitive legal system model provides a coherent explanation for the seemingly conflicting image of China’s legal system. / The concluding chapter also applies the framework to discuss the future development of China’s legal system on two analytical levels. It is argued that while, on the first level, the CCP China’s transitive legal system is moving toward the direction of the rule of law, on the second level, a paradigmatic change between types, either from the transitive legal system to the deficient rule of law state, or to the rule by law system, is unlikely to happen in the near future. The framework may also provide implications for rule of law promotion programs and might be useful for comparative studies of legal systems all over the world. / 中国的法律制度是什么性质？大多数人认为中国充其量是法制国家，权力不受限制。少量人认为中国是缺陷型法治。然而，本文认为，法制和法治两种理论都无法充分解释改革时代中国的法律制度。本文提出，改革时代的中国是一种传递性的法律体制，是介于法制和法治之间的一种新类型。 / 本文的目的在于发展一种新的分析框架，以更好地阐释充满矛盾现象的中国法律制度。通过概念和教义分析，受朗·富勒“法律内在德性”理论的启发，本文提出了一个由两个变量构成的分析框架，分别是政权合法性的类型及其立法能力。这两个变量对应于法治的两个要素：一个政权对法律的专注度，以及法律的形式合理性。不同的合法性类型和不同层次的立法能力组合起来，形成了五种稳定的法律体制，分别是法治、有缺陷的法治、传递性法律体制、法制，和人治。 / 法制国家的合法性来源于非法律的根源，而缺陷型法治国家的合法性主要来源于合乎理性的法律，但是这类国家的立法能力一般存在问题，使得法律在文本上和实践中都存在缺陷。本研究认为，当前中国属于传递性法律体制。一方面，它的合法性来源是绩效，这是一种传递性的法律合法性。换言之，合乎形式理性的法律之所以对统治者重要，是因为它有助于实现绩效目标。但是，当存在便利的非法律手段，或法律本身成为绩效实现的障碍之时，法律会受到损害或限制。另一方面，中国的立法能力也有所欠缺，直接导致法律存在诸多不符合“内在德性”的情况。这两方面特点决定了中国属于传递性法律体制。法制理论无法解释为什么中国发展出了相当程度的形式合理性法律，而法治理论则无法解释为什么中国的执政党没有受制于制度化的法律约束。传递性法律体制理论可以很好地解释这两个看上去相互矛盾的现象。 / 本文结论部分也用这个新的分析框架讨论中国法律制度的发展趋势。中国的传递性法律体制将会往法治的方向发展，但在短期内不太可能发生类型之间的突变，也就是说不会从目前的类型变回法制，或是发展为法治。这个分析框架也可用于世界上法律体制的比较研究，还可能对法治推广项目有所启发。 / Ye, Zhusheng. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references. / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 14, September, 2016). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.