The Insurance Law 1995 (PRC) is the first comprehensive insurance legislation since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It consists of insurance contract law and insurance regulation. This study concerns only the insurance contract law, focusing on three fundamental principles, namely the principles of insurable interest, utmost good faith, and subrogation. The main theme of this study is that, through examination and analysis, and by comparative methodology, of the provisions relating to the three principles, problems in these provisions are to be found and recommendations on how to amend them are to be proposed. It is intended this study will also help us to understand other similar problems in the whole Chinese insurance contract law. Many concepts adopted in the Insurance Law (PRC) are English in origin. This research attempts to trace the origin and the evolution of these concepts in England and to seek their real meanings in order to find and solve problems of confusions, ambiguities, contradictions and unfairness in Chinese insurance law. The Australian Insurance Contracts Act 1984 codifies the common law and insurance practice in Australia and mitigates the common law for its harshness to consumers and is regarded as a model for insurance law reform. So many Australian approaches are suggested as suitable to follow in order to amend Chinese law. This thesis starts with a brief introduction stressing the purpose and methodology of this research. Then the background is laid down concerning China's politics, economic reform, legal system and the development of China's insurance industry, under which the Insurance Law has been shaped. This is followed by three chapters - the main part of this study dealing with the three fundamental principles of the insurance contract law by examining and comparing the Chinese approach with the English and Australian counterparts. By doing so, problems in the Insurance Law are identified and better solutions are figured out. This research concludes with an emphasis on the urgency for amendment of the Chinese insurance contact law by summarising the preceding examination and analysis of the three principles. It finally ends with a number of proposed amendments of relevant provisions of the Insurance Law which it is hoped will provide useful models for the improvement of the whole Chinese insurance law.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-166).

Land has always been the focus of public debates among scholars, policy makers and local populations due to its scarcity in face of population explosion and rapid urban growth. This is particularly so in the case of China. In order to support an unprecedented rate of urbanization, the institutional mechanism of land expropriation has been widely adopted by the government of the People's Republic of China over the last three decades. However, the effect of this institutional mechanism in rural China has become increasingly controversial. On one side, it is one of the most powerful tools to assemble land for urban development. Moreover, by means of land expropriation and land conveyance, local governments are capable of collecting substantial revenues to fund urban development. On the other side, the exclusive power of local governments over land expropriation, which is derived from the land management system, makes it possible for local governments to manipulate the price at which land is taken from farmers. In practice, local governments expropriate suburban or rural land at a low price and then lease it at a much higher price in land market. Therefore, inequitable compensation for land expropriation has led to numerous conflicts and social tensions between local governments and land-loss farmers. The issue of land expropriation and compensation has been identified as one of most primary sources of social discontents and complaints. Even though a growing number of studies have been conducted on the urbanization and regional development in China, a thorough cause–effect elaboration of the issue of land expropriation and compensation in rural China has rarely been carried out within the political regime. This thesis analyzes the institutional framework of land expropriation and compensation in rural China from the perspectives of property rights and land management system. In addition, it discloses the opportunities for Chinese legal system to solve this issue by borrowing legal norms, wisdoms and experience from other jurisdiction, such as the United States and Germany. Furthermore, it aims to improve and reconstruct the legal framework of compensation by elaborating the concept of long-term reciprocity. Three primary questions would be elaborated in this thesis. Is the compensation for land expropriation in rural China equitable? If the compensation is not equitable, how has such an inequity been caused? And most importantly, how to improve the compensability of land expropriation? / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Journalism and Media Studies Centre / Master / Master of Journalism

published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Law / Master / Master of Laws

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis focuses on the current court mediation institution in China against the worldwide movement of alternative dispute resolution in searching for more consensual and more efficient ways of resolving disputes. When the West is seeking more informality-oriented forms of dispute resolution, China, on the other side of the world, is making great efforts to improve its formal justice system rather than conventional means of dispute resolution like mediation. This thesis attempts to identify the role court mediation has played in Chinese legal history, to explore its current functions, to examine the rationale underlying the system, and to suggest its future reform. The economic analysis of law, particularly Posner's economic analysis of civil procedure and the Coase Theorem, and the ideas of Rawls' theory of justice provide theoretical underpinnings for this study. A review of these classical theories is conducted from the perspectives of efficiency and fairness. Although it is generally understood that both efficiency and fairness cannot be equally achieved by a legal policy, a good one should be concerned with both efficiency and fairness. The article concludes that the balance between efficiency and fairness should be presented in an optimal court mediation form. China's court mediation has remained an important means of dispute resolution, but left much to be improved. The author argues that the current court mediation is not as successful as it declares; it is, in fact, neither efficient nor just. The existing law governing court mediation does not provide a clear function and purpose for court mediation, nor does it consider the efficiency and fairness of court mediation. In practice, although it remains the dominant position in resolving disputes, it is merely a substitute for adjudication rather than a substantive alternative dispute resolution. By analyzing the current allocation of cases for different dispute resolutions, the author suggests that considering the overloaded court caseloads and the lack of a variety of alternative dispute resolutions in today's China, court mediation should be preserved, but thoroughly reformed, as a more acceptable and efficient means of resolving disputes. Upon its reform, this conventional means of dispute resolution with Chinese characteristics will play a positive role in the future.